Simon Caine - Oracle

ORACLE A performance piece with a deck of cards and a pendulum

Simon Caine

Belief makes things real. For GPC

Copyright by Simon Caine 2016 / www.cainemindreader.com / TheSecretKeepersClub / All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the author. Please contact [email protected] for information regarding use and amendments.

Page 2

THE ROUTINE Part 1 From a small ring box, the performer removes a crystal pendulum and invites a participant to select playing card from a shuffled deck, and mix it in with four other random cards.

“For years, pendulums have been used for countless esoteric practises. Soothsayers and wise-women would use pendulums to apparently determine the sex of unborn babies. Prospectors would use them to dowse for water and gold. Mediums would use pendulums to communicate with spirits. I think together we can demonstrate the power of the pendulum. Please, take hold the pendulum, and bring your card to mind.” The performer takes the packet of cards, and one at a time, passes each one face up underneath the pendulum, studying its movements.

“You seem like a natural, were you thinking of the Nine of Clubs?” The participant confirms their card was the Nine of Clubs! Interlude “The pendulum basically amplifies thoughts. I’d like you to try this, take hold of it and without moving your hand, just imagine the

Page 3

weight moving forwards and backwards. Slowly at first, but as it gathers momentum, it increases and increases” In the participant’s hand, the pendulum swings as directed, even changing to a circle when the participant thinks of a circle, and stopping when they think stop.

“This now can be used to answer questions and find objects. Let’s say circle means YES, back and forth means NO. Is your name Gemma?” The pendulum responds correctly for this and other questions asked. This can be done with as many of the audience as wished. Part 2 “Let’s attempt some dowsing. Please take these cards and mix them, and lay them in a line so that only you know where your Nine of Clubs is. Hand me the pendulum and place your hand in mine. In your mind, focus on the location of your card.” Holding the pendulum over each card in the line, it swings back and forth over four of the cards. It swings in a circle over one card. That card is turned over to reveal the Nine of Clubs. Part 3 “One of the more difficult uses of the pendulum was the demonstration of the Spirit Bell. If present, spirits would use the pendulum to reveal thoughts by ringing a bell. Does somebody else have a card in mind? Please, place your hand in mine.”

Page 4

The performer take a glass, and lowers the pendulum into its mouth with one hand, holding the participant’s hand in the other.

“Please think about the colour of your card, and say nothing out loud. Is your card a black card?” Nothing happens. “A red card?” The pendulum repeatedly hits the side of the glass, producing several sharp rings. “Were you thinking of a red card?“ Yes. “Again, say nothing, is your card a diamond?” The pendulum strikes the glass. “Now, focus your mind on the value of your card.” At first, nothing. Then, the pendulum rings one, two, three, four, fix, six times.

“Six. Are you thinking of the Six of Diamonds?” The participant reveals this to be correct.

Page 5

INTRODUCTION Upon putting this together, it swiftly became one of my absolute favourite routines. Given that all is required is a deck of cards and a weight on the end of a string, the anticipation and response it provokes can be extraordinary. Played in full, it can cover a solid 15 minutes of mystery, but equally, each phase can be removed to accommodate shorter performances. The end of phase 2 wherein the card is ‘dowsed’, is a very strong place to end, but I can’t resist the ‘encore’ moment of a thought of card being revealed by legitimately spooky glass ringing. It’s not one for walkaround, but at the right time, at the end of an evening when talk turns to the supernatural, I believe this routine has it’s home.

THE PENDULUM AND HOW TO USE IT If you’ve never used a pendulum before, try this. Take any kind of weight and tie it to about 9 inches to a foot of string. Hold the end of the string between your thumb and forefinger, letting the weight hang straight down. Now, ‘will’ the pendulum to move backwards and forwards. It sounds odd, but visualise the weight moving. You should find that it will start moving more and more. This is the Ideomotor Effect. By thinking about the pendulum moving, tiny muscular movements in your fingers cause it to move, Page 6

even when you are apparently holding still. To lay audiences, this in itself can often be incredibly entertaining and powerful, as it looks like a real example of ‘mind over matter’. Before performing this routine, as there aren’t any big moves or sleights to master, take the time practicing how to move a pendulum. Just grab it and imagine it into motion. Make sure you can make it start, stop, change motion on command. Although any weight on the end of a string will work as a pendulum - a key, a small nut, even a ball of plasticine or clay - I would strongly recommend picking up a ‘real’ crystal pendulum from your local new age or esoteric shop, if only to lend the routine a little bit of credibility.

THE METHOD Methodologically, Part 1 relies on either forcing a selection or at least being able to tell it from four others, Part 2 depends on marking the selected card, and Part 3 requires you peek a card ‘thought of’ by another participant. Oddly enough, we will start at the end. In order to truly appear like your second participant merely thinks of a card, it is important that you get all of the dirty work out of the way for them first, such that by the time their moment comes around, there has been sufficient time delay to edit out any discrepancies.

Page 7

My prefered handling is to simply use a stacked deck. Offer this participant the choice of a card at the beginning of your performance (or at least a little bit before beginning this routine). Have them take the card and place it somewhere safe, and to periodically just think of this card from time to time. Cut the deck at the selection, and based on whatever stack you are using, peeking the bottom card of the deck will allow you to work out their selection (e.g. If you were using Si Stebbins +3 stack in CHaSeD order - AC, 4H, 7S, 10D etc - and the bottom card was 8H, you know the participant have removed and it thinking of the JS) Although a physical selection has been made, the majority of that participant’s time will be spent thinking about the card, so that when you ask if they have been thinking of a card, they must respond positively. Additionally, a having them take the card for real prevents them from changing their mind or forgetting what they thought of in the first place.

PART 1 Have the deck shuffled as much as is wanted. You now must get into a position where you know the top card of the deck. Either peek the bottom card and give the cards an extra shuffle to bring it to the top, or pick up the deck during a gesture of “would you like

Page 8

to shuffle some more?” and push over the top card enough to view the index. If they say no, all set, if yes, simply repeat this process with another spectator. Let’s assume it is the Nine of Clubs I believe the Cross Cut Force to be of genuine use here. Have the deck cut into two piles, placing the lower packet onto the higher, at a noticeable angle. Remove and discuss the pendulum and what you would like a participant to do. This should provide ample time misdirection away from the Cross Cut. Lift up at the separation between the packets and have them ‘select’ your force card. Allow them to remove four other cards, and mix their selection into this small packet. (Any other force or way or method of knowing the identity of a selected card is fine. I see no need for anything more complicated than a Cross Cut. Why run when you aren’t being chased?) Take the packet face up and hand the pendulum to the participant. Instruct them to hold the pendulum about 2 inches below the cards. Raise the face card of the packet up to the pendulum for a moment, then place it onto the table, repeating with all five cards. Study the pendulum each time. Although we are not expecting any movement at this stage, occasionally there will be noticeably more swinging when they see their card, make sure to comment on this at the end.

Page 9

Reveal the force card as their selection. Pick up the card, and give it a small corner bend or nail nick, enough to mark it such that you will be able to distinguish it face down later on.

INTERLUDE During this part of the routine, there are no tricks. You are taking time to show your audience how pendulums work and letting them experience it first hand.

PLEASE DO NOT SKIP THIS PART OF THE ROUTINE IN FAVOUR OF GETTING ON WITH THE ROUTINE. If they haven’t experienced it before, having a pendulum animate in your participant’s hands is an incredible experience, and worth so much of your time. Have a participant hold the pendulum, and instruct them just to imagine the weight moving back and forth (or side to side). After a few moments, it should start to move and you will certainly get a reaction. Some people are capable of creating large motion without any leading, but others may need some small coaxing. Whenever the smallest motion is present, give some simple leading statements like: Good, as it moves it starts to get bigger and bigger. The more it swings, the bigger the circle becomes.

Page 10

This is often enough to drastically increase the size of the movement. Suggest that you can use a pendulum to answer questions, where a circular motion indicates yes, and a back and forth motion indicates no. Start with some obvious questions, such as “Is today Saturday?” until the spectator is comfortable. You could take this opportunity to ask deeper questions and perform a light reading.. If you want. Make sure to offer the pendulum to any other audience members that would like to try it. Often this is the most ‘magical’ part of the routine, so use it for all its worth.

PART 2 During this and the final phase, you will take hold of the pendulum, not the participant. To justify this, I use the excuse that the pendulum will act to amplify the thoughts and signals I am receiving. Have them mix up the five cards and lay them face down in a line on the table, so that they know where the card lies, and you apparently don’t. Of course, due to the marking, their chosen card should be identifiable. Hold the pendulum in your right hand and ask the participant to lay their hand on top of your outstretched left hand. Ask the Page 11

participant to focus on where their card is, and begin to pass the pendulum over each card. Using your own ideomotor response, cause the pendulum to swing back and forth over an indifferent card, remind the participant that back and forth means no. Remove this card from the line (it is a good idea to let the pendulum rest still for a moment before moving it, especially when down to only two cards). Continue eliminating cards until you are down to two. At this point, if you are go between the final two cards a few times, causing a circle on the chosen card. Turn this over to reveal their selection again.

PART 3 This is the fun bit. Try this: take a glass and lower the pendulum into its mouth slightly. Now just think “ring four times.” The pendulum should swing constantly, yet only strike the glass four times. This is all we do for the final phase. Since you already know the card that a second participant is thinking of (and has out of sight in their pocket), all your work is done. As before, have the participant think of their card (which should appear to everyone like an entirely free choice without restriction, the participant of course would agree). Let’s assume they are thinking of the Six of Diamonds.

Page 12

Now ask the participant to think of the colour of their card. For the colour, always ask for the incorrect colour first. I.e. “Is it a black card?” Keep the pendulum still. Now ask “Is it a red card?” and after a few still seconds, cause the pendulum to repeatedly strike the glass. For the suit, reverse this and ask for the correct suit first. Your audience are likely expecting the correct response to come last (to build tension), so to reveal it immediately is more surprising. If you can, time it so that the glass rings even before you have finished naming the suit. Ask for the incorrect suit and keep the pendulum still, just to confirm the correct suit again. Ask them to think of the number, and cause the pendulum to hit the glass the correct number of times. Here, the slower the better. Once it has reached the number, cause the pendulum to stop still. Accept your applause, and suggest the audience go home and try this themselves!

Page 13

TAROT This routine could be very easily adapted to use with tarot cards, for an even stranger vibe. Using cards from the Major Arcana, the only alterations would need to be made in the preparation and performance of the glass ringing in Part 3. Given the wide spread of meaning across these cards, it could be difficult to find suitable questions to ask in this stage to ring the glass. In this case, along with forcing a card for use in Parts 1 and 2 (which can be performed exactly as described), I would also recommend forcing a notable card in the ‘pre-show’ for Part 3, such as The Lovers, The Devil, Strength, Death etc. You want a card that it going to resonate with this participant in an obvious way, so avoid more obscure cards like Temperance or The Hierophant. The questions you use here need to be binary enough to have yes/no answers, but depending on your choice of force card, can also allow you an excellent opportunity for some deeper hot reading. My personal favourite, and one I have used more often than others is forcing The Lovers onto a participant who is part of a couple.

Page 14

Begin by asking if the card illustrates something negative (Death, The Devil, The Hanged Man) or positive (The Lovers, Strength, The Sun), causing the bell to ring on the second option. Then ask if the card relates to someone else in the room (cause a ring), and get your audience to call out their names one at a time. Ring on the participants partners name. Now you can involve some reading, suggesting a link or companionship, a warmth etc. Finish by asking if they are thinking of The Lovers, and have the glass ring as strongly and quickly as you can manage. No doubt there are far darker avenues to be explored, which I shall leave to you.

CREDITS AND INSPIRATION Initial inspiration for this routine came from Luke Jermay’s pendulum and ESP card routine, found on his Jermay’s Mind DVD set. Paul Voodini and Pablo Amira both have great work on pendulums for anyone wishing to use the prop into their work. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this routine and have fun performing it. Simon Caine May 2016

Page 15

www.cainemindreader.com

Page 16