5 Tips and Ideas to get the most out of your Phoenix Prophecy

With the release of Phoenix Prophecy, we have been asked by a lot of magicians, for additional presentation and performance ideas for this useful mind reading tool.

The Phoenix Prophecy is a great update on a classic mentalism gimmick that allows you to perform some great mind-reading and mentalism but in a very magical way. The thought of word or spectator's initials appear in burn marks on your business card, or piece of paper, even on your spectator's own bank note!

Although these routines and more ideas are explained in full on the tuition DVD, the Phoenix Prophecy really is a tool that you can use to help improve your creativity. It only took a few minutes for me to come up with a few great ideas you can use with the Phoenix Prophecy, so I thought I’d share these ideas with you now.

Phoenix Prophecy Resizing

As the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick is a bit of a ‘One Size Fits All’ gimmick, there is a tiny chance that it may be too big for you. If this is the case for you, not to worry, it is a simple fix. All you need to do is cut a piece of foam and stick it on the inside of the gimmick so that it fits snugly. You don’t have to use foam, you can also use folded card to bridge the gap. It may seem obvious once you have read this, but nonetheless I believe it is worth mentioning.

Frixion Pen Routine

The Frixion Pen is a great tool. It is a pen with ink that turns invisible when heat is applied to it. This is perfect for the Phoenix Prophecy. I am sure you are already thinking ahead of me now!

Simply take a business card and write a four digit number with the Frixion Pen, place this down as your prediction. Ask the spectator to think of a four digit number, if they think of the number you wrote (it is 9000 to 1, but it could happen!) then you have a miracle! If not (which is more likely!) then simply turn your prediction around to show it is incorrect if you perform this correctly the breakdown of tension should give you ample misdirection to freely work your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick so you can simply say, ‘every now and then my mind reading skills fail me. However, my magic is always pretty good’. You can then hold the lighter under the business card and the ink from the Frixion Pen will vanish, and the burn marks will reveal the thought of number!

Pocket Change Routine

In this routine, you predict correctly three coins that are freely chosen by your spectators, from their own pocket change.

Have a spectator sign the face of your business card and on the opposite side draw three circles. Hold this in full view with the signed face showing to the spectators. Now simply ask your spectator to remove all the change in their pocket, they are to select three coins to use and place them in a row on the table. It should be noted that you are to make it obvious that you do not have a pen in your hand as you hold the prediction. When the coins have been placed down you can recap the process and how impossible it would be if you had correctly predicted not only which coins they would choose but which order they would choose them, how would you ever have known even what coins they had in the first place! This patter will give you ample time to use the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to full effect and set it so that the value of each coin will appear in the burn marks inside the circles.

Predict Your Friend’s Time to Win a Drink!

Next time you are out with your friends in a bar bet them that you can predict the future and propose a wager if you can predict where your friend will stop their watch then they buy you a drink, if not then you will buy them a drink!

When you write your prediction you are simply going to draw a watch without the hands on the face. Draw on your business card at the top of the card, the card must be portrait and not landscape as it will give you more space to draw the watch.

All you need to do is have your friend wind their watch around to ANY time they like and stop. Ask them to click the button in on their watch so they cannot change their mind. Emphasize that you have made your prediction, again make it clear (without saying it) that you do not have a pen in your hand. As soon as they have selected their time use the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to have the correct hands appear when you hold the lighter underneath the prediction. Reveal the time and claim your drink!

Business Card Symmetry

In this routine, you are going to get perfectly in sync with your spectator. Hand your spectator a business card and ask them to take the business card and place a tear in the business card anywhere they like. They can tear any edge they like, ask them not to tear any part off the card, but to simply put a small tear into the business card. As they do this you will use your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to prep that same part of your business card. Now when you hold the lighter underneath the business card a distinct mark will appear in the same place as where they tore their card.

You can of course use this idea with pieces of paper or borrowed bank notes too so it can be completely impromptu as long as you have your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick with you. And lets face it, when are you ever going to leave it at home!

So there you go, there are 5 tips and ideas to use with your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to help inspire you! It really is a great gimmick which I intend on having with me for a very long time! Enjoy!

How Magicians Can Link Their Magic Tricks to Create Continuity

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

Let’s explore how magicians can link the magic tricks they perform, by using continuity. One of the skills that separate professional magicians and amateurs is the degree of continuity within their magic tricks. Most magicians perform one of their magic tricks, put it away and then start performing another one. There is no continuity between the magic tricks they perform. Each of the magic tricks is unrelated. The tricks are bookmarked by a moment when the magician puts it away and starts another trick. Let’s look at introducing continuity into the magic tricks you perform.

Performing one magic trick, then putting it away and taking out another is like being a comedian that fires off unrelated gags. The comedian tells a range of jokes, knowing that sooner or later, one of them will hit the spot and make the audience laugh. Your magic can be much better than that. You can build in a theme that runs across all your magic tricks and ties them together to create something greater than the sum of it’s parts.

How Your Magic Starts.

Rather than getting out the props for a new magic trick, could the previous trick introduce the props for the next? Could it make an object appear that you then use for your next trick?

Here are 5 quick easy card magic tricks bound by continuity. Notice that they flow together as they tell a larger story about the most amazing playing card the magician has ever seen.

You take a shuffled deck of playing cards and magically find all four aces. You explain that one of the aces has very special properties.

The aces are then used for a mentalism trick, and the spectator is asked to choose one, and it matches a prediction because it is the ‘special card’

Once the prediction has been made, the chosen card vanishes and appears in your wallet

You then destroy it, only for it to reform, as a torn and restored playing card.

One corner remains unhealed. It vanishes and appears in an impossible location.

How Your Props Vanish.

A previous magic trick, could give an explanation to your spectators, as to why an object vanishes in a magic trick that follows. David Roth uses a Portable Hole, and it’s a great example of this. The idea of a portable hole that makes your props vanish can run through all your magic tricks, appearing to cause trouble for the magician and bring props in and out of play.

Thinking about joining the magic tricks you perform into a set that has continuity and a story line that runs through it, will greatly improve the reactions you get from your magic tricks. It will improve your pocket management, the timing and flow the act and will create an overall ‘message’ that is far more memorable to spectators than a generic magician what performed a series of unrelated magic tricks.

How to Build Magic Tricks into an Act – Tying Tricks Together

by Merchant of Magic 1 Comment

Many magicians seem to think that any group of magic tricks can be built into an act.

When we begin learning magic, we learn as many tricks as possible that come our way, that fool us and seem easy enough for us to learn. During the early stages of learning magic, we don’t think about performing a magic act, just performing great tricks.

It’s only once we acquire a range of tricks, that we begin to think about how to build tricks together. But by then it’s too late. We have spent out time collection random tricks, and have a chaotic collection of magic with no common thread.

Dominic Reyes talks about why this isn’t the best way to develop your magic, and how to choose the best magic tricks to build into your sets and acts. He suggests using a common theme or consistent thread running through them:

Who’s to fault?

Magic shops promote tricks in isolation, grouped together only by their props: card tricks, coin tricks, mentalism etc.

We tend to define the type of magic that we perform by the props we use, saying to ourselves: ‘I’m a coin worker, a cardtist, a mentalist’ etc.

It’s easy to collect new techniques and routines simply because they are ‘what’s new’, rather than because they would be perfect for the flow or theme of a set we are constructing.

Popular magic TV shows often seem to be a disparate collection of tricks shown one after another, but that’s not the case:

Dynamo magician impossible, presents seemingly random tricks, but each one is introduced and a scene is set. A theme runs through each episode of Dynamo, tying the tricks together.

Derren Brown builds each show into a theme, choosing and presenting tricks which build to present an overall message or theme.

These are distinct from ‘audition’ shows, where the contest and voting create consistency and each performer is presented as an individual to be judged. It doesn’t matter that there is no theme between acts.

Do you approach creating your magic act, the wrong way around?

Imagine going into a supermarket and buying a basket full of random ingredient simply because each one tastes nice, then going home and planning the menu for your dinner party, using all those ingredients. The meal would be a complete failure.

You need to plan the menu FIRST, then buy the ingredients. The same planning you would do for a meal, needs to be applied to creating a magic act.

Start with a simgle theme or one favourite trick, then slowly build up the next ‘course’ in the ‘magic meal’:

Starter – A strong engaging magic trick that captures attention and sets the theme for the set.
Maincourse – a longer trick that requires more engagment from the spectators.
Dessert – A strong closer, leading to a climax that gets applause
Coffees – A professional farewall

Which magic tricks to choose:

Look at the range of tricks that you already know. Just because you know them and they are strong tricks, in and of themselves, doesn’t mean they fit well together.

Choose one trick which you love, and look for more tricks that compliment it and build up your act.
Start from the ground up so you have coherence and structure. Sort your current ‘bank’ of magic tricks into groups that fit their position in an act: Starters, Maincourses, Desserts.

Search for new magic that will fit the gaps in each of your sets. Your best tricks don’t need to go in the same set. Create 3 or 4 strolling magic sets, 3 or 4 table magic sets and 2 or 3 stand up or caberet sets. Spread out your best tricks across these sets and start adding new material to reinforce them.

I can’t be bothered to do that!

You don’t have to work like this. You can continue to present random tricks without a theme or thread running through them. Many successful, professional magicians don’t work on act structure, and that’s OK. You can very easily continue to perform unassosiated tricks and get great reactions. I would say though, that your magic will be getting a great response despite the lack of a theme, rather than because of it. A little thought into act construction will lift the performance to a new level, leaving the spectators amazed at your magic, and feeling that they have seen something greater than the sum of it’s individual parts.