OUT OF THE DEEP FREEZE One of the most valuable tools a working mentalist can have is the ability to do a good cold or psychological reading, It is necessary to distin- guish carefully between these two fields although when you're actually doing @ reading the two tend to overlap. The cold reading as it has been defined is taking a very broad general reading and watching your subject carefully and Pumping information out of the subject in the course of the reading. So that actually you are doing more listening and feedback than you are doing telling. The impression geven to the subject is that you have told them everything; what has actually occurred is you have asked more questions than you have answered. But the subject is left with the impression that you are truly a man of miracles, a wonder worker, and that he or she said nothing during the course of the entirexeading. The psychological reading is generally distinguished as being a reading that is very broad, very general, not specific at all but something that applies to just about everybody. These have been distinguished in the text in the Past. I tend to find that the best combination is utilizing both. Starting off with some very broad general statements, once more the psychological reading, and through methods which I will describe later in this chapter, feeding back information to the subject that they have asked you. Some of this information you have obtained surreptitiously, some of this informationyou directly ask. But in the course of your reading the fact that you ask for the information is soon forgotten. The fact that you gave them the information is long remembered. You will find the uses of the reading to be many. Most peeple who are interested in, mentalism will at one time or another ask you to tell my fortune, read my cards, tell me about my future. People are much more interested in themselves than anyt! g else in the world. They would much rather have you tell them their grandmother's maiden name than the color they are thinking of or word selected at random from an encyclopedia or an ESP symbol or anything else. People are very vain, they are interested in themselves, They want to hear about themselves even more, they want to hear good about themselves. Now we come to a very important point. There are those who feel that the use of mentalism and magical principles for private readings is wrong or unethical. It is not my purpose to dispute these people at this point. I have disputed with many of you personally but I feel that the private reader does a valuable service to,the person for whom he is giving a reading and a valuable service for himself in providing himself with a very lucrative income. There are certain ethics and morality I believe the private reader can have, should have, must have. These I will go on into later on in the chapter. However, for those of you who are not interested in private reading this may be used as an entertainment medium as something to do impromptu at the drop of a hat. You will find that the reading you will do for three or four minutes will be Jong remembered much more than your coin vanish or your production of a candle or any of the magical miracles you have been performing for many years. In the course of the years I have found friends towhom I have shown small simple mental miracles, the reading being one of the most essential, and they have all said, "Gee, you did some wonderful stuff but all they remember was that three minute reading that you gave. People who come to you or people to whom you give a reading are interested, a, as 1 said, in themselves, and basically only three or four other subjects; love or romance, b, health, c, money, d, and children. And once more the children will revolve back to Jove, health, romance and money. You will find that astute observation of the people with whom you are dealing will yield a great deal of information. It is fairly obvious from a person's hands as, to whether they do a great deal of manual labor or as to whether they have led a very gentle and easy, physically, life. The accountant hands look entirely different than the ditch digger. Their clothes and appearance should itiel miriad clues to you, both very obviously and some more subtlely. It is a good idea to get an idea of the cost of clothes so that you can tell if the gentleman is wearing a $400 suit or an $89 Robert Hall special. Various jewelry and insignia is worn upon people that they wear constantly tend to become forgotten by, them as part of their wardrobe. If the gentleman is wearing a pin showing him to be a member of some kind of a lodge or organization, if he wears this on a regular basis he probably forgets he wears it, Astute observation will allow these things to prove to be extremely valuable tools when used properly. Jewelry, particularly birthstones, can give you an indication of somebody's birthdate, and from this a whole expansion can be made into a field of astrology. If, for example, a person is wearing a garnet ring, garnet happens to be the birthstone for January. Now if the Person is born in January you know that probably the person is either aCapricorn or an Aquarius. A good knowledge of astrology is extremely helptul. Give him back some of the information available in many of the popular astrological magazines on the stands or things listed in the bibliography at the end. It provides you with the basis of the biginnings of a very good reading. Generally, when a person comes to you and asks you for a reading they believe in your efficacy or ability to answer them, a part of them is not sure. And they are looking to you for some sort of guidance or help or to prove you a fraud. It is very quickly evident when they are putting you on or when they are seeking sincere advice. Be extremely careful in the advice you give. Unless you are an attorney or a doctor do not give legal or medical advice, Suggest that these people consult proper counselors for this type of advice. You will find that men and women come to you for generally different reasons, although they want the same answers. Women, although my more liberated female friends will grimace and Scream at this, tend to have love on their mind more than anything else. A woman, though she my be happily married is always concerned about another man in her future. Particularly women who are starting to age, gracefully or not. They want to know that they are still attractive to others. It has always been my feeling that when working for a couple | always play to the woman. A woman will drah her husband back to see you as a performer, where a husband will rarely drag his wife anyplace to see you. When doing a reading it is advisable to know as much about your subject as is possible. This information can be gained by various means. It can be gained by asking friends or associates. Let me give you an example. A short time ago I was doing a demonstration of mentalism in Hartford, Connecticut.At the end of the demonstration a woman walked over to me and said what can you tell me about my future? Looking her straight in the eye and as directly as this and I had not spoken to the woman betore, I said, gee, I said, your husband is a doctor. He's a dermatologist; he’s about to change his Practice and go and specialize in pediatric dermatology. 1 see you're about to 8 back to school or if you haven't gone back to school you've recently started school, that's not clear. In addition, you are a person of great sensitivity and artistic abilities. I see you drawing or painting as a means of your expression, and then proceeded on for three or four minutes. The woman, of course, was stunned. I was totally correct in all instances and is probably to this day still extolling my virtues. How did I do it? No clip board, no impression boards, ho center tears. The method was totally direct. I kept my ears open. And, I have a good memory. Before the banquet I was sitting at the dias eating the rubber chicken inner that they generally provide and talking to the chairwoman or chairperson, excuse me. As this young woman walked by she said that's Zuckie Goldberg. She made all the decorations for this luncheon by herself, she's a very talented and artistic young woman. Her husband's a doctor. As a matter of fact, her husband is about to change his practice froin dermatology to pediatric dermatology. Simple, isn't it? The woman whe told me by this time I'm sure has forgotten that she ever said a word to me because all she was making was meaningless luncheon conversation. 1 however through astute memory produced a miracle. The best way to do a dynamite shellshock reading is to find out about your subject in advance, if possible. It is sometimes necessary to set up your subjects in advance. If you know you're going to do a reading for someone weeks or months before, pick up bits of information about this person from their family or friends in theCourse of conversation. Never asking, just listening or asking very subtle quiet questions and retaining. If you have a poor memory or a short memory span, write things down. I tend to keep files, extensive files on people that I deal with over and over again. Local sources of information have been variously shown to be invaluable for producing wealth of information about people. Telephone directory can give you a world of information about somebody, someone. Local libraries sometimes have files on more prominent people in the town. They also have Who's Who directories that can give a warehouse of information if a person is Prominent enough. And, of course, if all these aren't possible or fail we do have methods of trickery that can accomplish some of these means, such as the clip board, center tear, various other impression methods. Methods that if you are in the field of mentalism and are reading this are sure that you are as familiar with as 1. So let us proceed to the next step. We have gathered information about someone. We now have a few gems about this person that we have gathered through one means or the other. The person confronts you and says tell me about myself, tell me about my future, read my cards, tell my horoscope, whatever they ask you. A general reading should proceed in this fashion: At the present time you're troubled, confused, you don't knew where to turn, You realize that a decision of some sort is imminent. I see you during your life walking a path, a long lonely path. The path divides, you don’t know which way to turn. At this point watch your subject carefully. They will either shake their head yes or shake their head no or say something. Generally, most people at any given point in their life have a problem, the -6-more vigorously they shake their head yes, the stronger the problem. It is necessary during your reading that you make close observations of your subject, they will purposely or inadvertently give you many clues to what they are looking for. It is your job to recognize these clues and give them back what they want. If you wish to see a master proceed at this go to any gypsy fortuneteller and the $5 or $10 you spend for the gypsy will be well worth it in the information that you get from her. To proceed with the reading. Things are not progressing as well financially for you at the moment. (Generally nobody is ever doing as well financially as they would like to be doing.) If you get ano on this you can counter with "You are capable of doing better financially and you are going to do better financially than you have in “the past. But generally this line will go over very well. If it does proceed with "I seem to sense that there is some, even though minimal, dissatisfaction with conditions around you. Although things in your home are very good, they could be better." Who could really object to a statement like that. Things can always be better. You always seem to be held back just before you acheive your goal, you don't feel you're making progress, the amount of progress, you should be making for the amount of energy expended. You feel that circumstances around you are unfavorable and you want to throw off this yoke and express your true self. Most people tend to be very inhibited and most people tend to be unable to express themselves very well. At this point put in some of the information that you have learned about the person. If you do as I do and you ask the person to write a question and not let you see it and then through an impression method find out what this question is, 1 would start to feed this information back to the person at this -7-time. Notice I say "start to feed the information back". Because a brict question can give you a load of information and there are books on question answering that can help you along these lines. Your personal magnetism is quite strong. (Flattery we see here.) This is a big factor in helping you overcome the adverse obstacles that have put themselves in your path. You Possess the power to fascinate other people with whom you come contact, yet you yourself are most susceptible to the influences of others and usually not for your own good. You're now in a cycle of unsettled conditions which are slowly changing for the better. However, rather than just wait and see you must settle your mind by some logical and decisive action. If you listen carefully you can still be the master of your fate. I see a figure 81 indicating a relatively long life span. Longer than most of the people in your family, free of any serious illnesses or disorders, and when you die you will just go to sleep and not wake up. You will note here what I have done is flatter the person by telling them about their personal magnetism, * The proper atmosphere for doing a cold reading. While the cold reading is used for entertainment purposes, it is most successful when done on a one to one basis. If it is not possible to get your subject alone at least try to get him or her off into one corner of the room where they will not be disturbed by other members of the group. You will find that in a private situation even the most blatant skeptic will tend to become a believer. It is in this setting that you are best able to concentrate on your subject picking up the most verbal and non-verbal clues that the subject is giving you. As I noted it is important to note and know something about body language. The followingare indications of the way the subject is responding: If they are sitting there with their legs apart in a fairly open sitting Position this generally means they are open and receptive towards you. If they close up their legs, cross their arms across their chest and generally take a very adamant manner upon their countenance, this means they are closing up. Leaning forward or leaning forward with their chin resting on their hands is generally an indication that they're receptive and want to hear more. You will find the subject will unconsciously nod yes or no as you have hits or misses. It is necessary during the course of the reading to change your direction or modify your terms based upon the response of the subject. You Proceed more along that line until you get your negative response and then you proceed on a series of indirect tangents until you hit one after the other of correct responses. Your reading is interspersed with a series of general statements becoming more and more specific towards each individual. Basically what you working on is the descending pyramid. Starting off with a very broad generalization becoming slightly more specific until the subject feels you are telling”them something that pertains to them and them alone. A great deal of this becomes unconscious on your part once you've become practiced in the art. During the course of the response you will note certain amount of eye blinking and expressions upon the subject's face. This is generally indicative of positive responses. A fixed stare would generally be indicative of the fact that you are proceeding in the wrong direction. Once more this is best handled in a private atmosphere with no distraction either for your subject or for yourself. Let us assume that you are doing this for entertainment purposes only and simply want to give the subject a character reading about himself or herself. I suggest very strongly proceeding along -9-positive lines. Tell the subject what they want to hear. Project warm glowing statements about their hopes, dreams and aspirations. Since the hopes, dreams and aspirations of all men are the same you will find if you talk bout your own hopes, dreams and aspirations you will come very close and hit right on the head 85 to 90 percent of the hopes, dreams and aspirations of your subjects. I will give a series of statements and break them down for you to explain the psychology behind the reading. You are basically a very warm outgoing person with very many acquaintances and very few close friends. Analysis: This applies to everybody. Most of us have a broad range of acquaintances but very few who we can count on as clese personal friends. = You are not only a very good and loyal and true friend but this | friendship can quickly turn to anger and make you a bitter enemy when someone has wronged you. Analysis: Once more generally applies to most people. Nobody likes to be made a fool of. Nobody likes to be wrong. Everybody likes to think of themselves as a good and loyal friend. You are at a’climax, a turning point in your life. Things that you do within this period will influence the rest of your life. All important decisions that you make now will prove to be turning points in your life. Once more, Analysis: This is true to just about everybody. Any important decision you _ make will definitely affect the rest of your life. ; You find that your emotions can run to heights and depths rather than ‘on an even keel. It is generally your own emotions that have held in life. Yet at the same time it's your intellect and emotions that jed you forward to whatever you have achieved. Analysis: Once generalization that tends to apply to everybody. -lo-You worry a great deal usually about things that never come to pass. You're extremely tense and anxious. During these times of tension and anxiety you tend to get headaches usually centered on one side of your head rather than the other. Occasionally stomach or back trouble. Analysis: Tension headaches are very common in our society. Most people tend to have very varied mood planes rather than remaining on an even keel. Type of Person who is on an even moderate keel is not the type of person who is coming to you for character analysis. : Going along this line you need to learn to relax more. Try to get a better overall view of things, put things more in their proper perspective. Try to delegate more responsibility to others rather than taking as much on yourself as you do. You tend to be overworked and overburdened and people tend to take advantage of your good nature. { Analysi Everybody feels Generally from time to time are taken advantage of. Everybody tends to feel they are overworked and other people should do more of their jobs. You tend to be a procrastinator. You tend to put off to tomorrow what you should be doing today. you find that in many cases you rush doing things to get them done in time then have to redo them in order to do them as had you taken time in doing them initially. Once more this is a very common trait that most of us fall victim to. We tend to put off unpleasant tasks until the last minute. Tou tend to be, to do things on a spur of the moment particularly when, it comes to shopping or buying. Many times You have made a purchase that you've been very sorry for, one in the very recent future, probably within the last 24 hours you've returned an item you bought. Analysis: All of us tend to be impulse buyers. The stores and the advertisers rely on this and “hePsychological tests have shown that people walking through a supermarket enter a state of hypnosis and walk out of the store after having bought things that they never realized they bought or needed. T see someone in your future. Possibly already in your life, who is very close to you. This person is short, heavy set, dark hair, dark eyes. The hair is Jong, and tends to curl up at the bottom. Analysis: Watch this one very carefully. What I have just described is a person totally opposite from the Person Tam looking at. Usually a person of this physical description will be a very close freind of the person we are working with. In other words, what we ere describing is a person totally opposite from the person who's description, from the person who we are dealing with. Based on your subjects response you can proceed with this in either a positive or negative manner. T see a trip coming up in the near future. Withen the next year. Watch very carefully on this one. If you get a very positive response you know you struck a chord. If it's a no response at all then modify by not a trip of long duration but of more than 10 or 20 miles. Possibly somewhere near water. The next seven to fourteen days you are going to receive some unexpected news. Neither good nor bad just some news that's unexpected. I tend to think it will be by phone rather than mail but it may be, may come by mail. Analysis: You said nothing. Everybody receives unexpected news from someone in place and what you have done is set into motion a self fulfilling Prophecy. They will be looking for unexpected news and when something turns up they will relate to the fact that you predicted it. You have a great deal of Intuitive psychic ability. However, you have not developed this properly. With proper training and work on your part you can turn into quite a talented psychic on your own. Once more, everybody -12-feels that they have some sort of psychic ability. Because we have all had some sort of intuitional flashes from time to tine. I see no major illness this year, although some minor illness within the next sixty days. Following your doctor's advice is the best course of action for you. Note: PLEASE BEWARE OF GIVING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE UNLESS YOU TEND TO BE AN EXPERT IN ONE OF THOSE FIELDS. IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU ARE A LAWYER, GIVE LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU ARE A PHYSICIAN, YOU CAN GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE. OTHERWISE, UNLESS YOU LIKE SPENDING YOUR LIFE BEHIND BARS, ADVISE THEM TO STICK TO THE DICTATES OF THEIR OWN PERSONAL PHYSICIAN OR ATTORNEY. A Method for obtaining information for the basis of the reading. Let me give you an example of a method I have used quite successfully for doing a reading which I have marketed under the term of the Talking Tarot. Basically, this is a simplified method for obtaining information for doing a private reading. * The querent is seated opposite the Tarot Reader. He removes a deck of Tarot Cards from an ornately carved box. He unwraps their silken cover and spreads them face up upon the surface separating the two people. ‘These are the Tarot, he explains, the Book of Life. Each one of these cards has both apparent and occult meaningS* For centuries man has used the Tarot to divine = ” the future and to give hem guidances! ts 2, solution y his problems. Searching carefully through the cards the reader carefully removes one of the Court cards. “This,"he explains,"is your Significator. It has vibrations that most closely resemble yours. It will during this session represent you. Again, ayathe reader peruses the deck and removes a blank card. Removing the pencil from his pocket he hands them both to the querent. “Please print the most important questions on your mind ina few words, but please do not let me see what you write. When you have finished with your target questions please turn it face down on the table. When they have done this they are handed the balance of the Tarot pack to shuffle and cut in the prescribed manner. “Now, would you please place your problem face down into the Book of Life (the Tarot) and please cut the cards three times to the left and restack the ie Picking up the cards the reader proceeds as follows: you are now in the third cycle of your life approaching the fourth cycle of life which is a turning point in your life. Many of the things that you are working and striving for will Start to resolve themselves during this cycle. However, in order for them to work in your favor direct decision will have to be made by eon the reader has been talking in this vein he has been laying out a pattern of Tarot Cards. As this layout is completed he begins to specifically answer the question that has been written, butthat he has never seen. After answering the written questions he continifes with the general reading and concludes the session. The method is simplicity itself. The blank Tarot card is provided with the type of deck known as the Rider Waite deck. I cover the blank side with clear seal plastic, the type that you can purchase in any stationary store for Preserving pictures or documents. This serves two purposes. One, by using a &rease pencil you will have a surface that can be printed on and then be erased to be used over and over. Secondly, even more importantly, it gives you a thick card that can easily be located. After the querent has shuffled and cut the deck and inserted his question card, you can control this to the bottom by your favorite method. However, a word of caution, it should -iheAppear as if the order of the deck has not been changed. All I do is reach over and cut a group of cards off the table deck. Pick a question card forms @ natural break. All you have to do is be careful not to flash it as you lift. This is the most casual movement in the world and there is no need whatsoever to make a move out of it. It is also very simple to glance at the question as you deal out the Tarot layout. Any remaining cards you put back on the table deck. The balance is a psychological and then a cold reading based on the information you have received, :