MattusMaximus
Intellectual Gladiator
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2006
- Messages
- 15,948
Just a few days ago I got a cool thing in the mail from the folks at the Skeptic's Society. It's a little pamphlet on how to be a psychic. I liked it so much I wanted to reproduce it here for everyone...
Note: much of this comes out of Ian Rowland's Full Facts Book of Cold Reading, which I highly recommend.
Here are the steps:
1. Set the stage for an intimate, comfortable experience. Establish your psychic authority with props such as important looking charts, or bookcases full of reference books.
2. Project a sympathetic personality. Put your client in a receptive, cooperative mood by explaining that a reading is a team effort.
3. There are 7 things people most want to talk about: love, health, money, career, travel, education, and ambition. Stick to these themes by asking a lot of questions and making plenty of statements from each category. This will also help you remember where you are in the reading.
4. Start with the "Barnum" reading that offers something for everyone. (See Barnum statements for more info on this one)
5. After general statements, you can begin to hone in on specifics that apply to most people by referencing things such as jewelry, toys, books, mementos from childhood, medicines, as well as peculiarities about the person.
6. Extract information from your client by disguising questions as statements.
7. Appeal to the authority of ancient wisdom and mysterious secrets by peppering your reading with esoteric jargon. (This is the so-called "Jargon Blitz")
8. Don't by shy about using a little scientific knowledge from psychology or sociology to deduce your client's concerns.
9. Don't forget the obvious. Flatter your subjects. Tell them what they want to hear.
10. Have your excuses ready. Turn every outcome to your advantage.
That's it. Master those ten steps and you too can become a master psychic!
For reference, the entire thing - including many details I left out - can be found at this link (Jan. 4th entry).
Note: much of this comes out of Ian Rowland's Full Facts Book of Cold Reading, which I highly recommend.
Here are the steps:
1. Set the stage for an intimate, comfortable experience. Establish your psychic authority with props such as important looking charts, or bookcases full of reference books.
2. Project a sympathetic personality. Put your client in a receptive, cooperative mood by explaining that a reading is a team effort.
3. There are 7 things people most want to talk about: love, health, money, career, travel, education, and ambition. Stick to these themes by asking a lot of questions and making plenty of statements from each category. This will also help you remember where you are in the reading.
4. Start with the "Barnum" reading that offers something for everyone. (See Barnum statements for more info on this one)
5. After general statements, you can begin to hone in on specifics that apply to most people by referencing things such as jewelry, toys, books, mementos from childhood, medicines, as well as peculiarities about the person.
6. Extract information from your client by disguising questions as statements.
7. Appeal to the authority of ancient wisdom and mysterious secrets by peppering your reading with esoteric jargon. (This is the so-called "Jargon Blitz")
8. Don't by shy about using a little scientific knowledge from psychology or sociology to deduce your client's concerns.
9. Don't forget the obvious. Flatter your subjects. Tell them what they want to hear.
10. Have your excuses ready. Turn every outcome to your advantage.
That's it. Master those ten steps and you too can become a master psychic!
For reference, the entire thing - including many details I left out - can be found at this link (Jan. 4th entry).
