Conjure by Jacques Le Sueur

Through a mutual friend, I am fortunate enough to have met somebody (I use the term “met” loosely, as we’re Facebook friends) called Jacques Le Sueur.

Jacques is a magician living in South Africa, and he has just written an amazing eBook called “Conjure“.

What is it about?

Well, it’s hard to describe, but it’s partly drawn from the bizarre variety of experiences he’s had, so here’s what Jacques has to say about it: it’s “a little bit about adventure, a little bit about marketing, a little bit about magic. Creating a message to share with the world, and getting people to pay you bags of cash for it.“

There are two really good reasons to download and read this book.

Firstly, it is both entertaining and inspiring, and contains information that you will definitely find useful, no matter what you do in life.

Secondly, it’s free!

Having said that, Jacques does ask for donations, which is something I highly recommend doing, as a small token of thanks for creating this truly unusual eBook.

Download your copy of “Conjure” today – you won’t regret it!

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The Missing Card Stunt

In case I haven’t previously mentioned this, I am a big fan of mnemonics, and have been using these memory training techniques since I was about eight years old. (I swapped some Penny Arrows – a British confection that dates me considerably, I guess – for a small book by the legendary magician and origami expert, Robert Harbin, on memory.)

In later life, I made great use of mnemonics in the sort of magic I performed, and also enjoyed practising (but rarely performing) memory demonstrations.

One of the first demonstrations that I ever learned is called the “Missing Card Stunt“.

What basically happens is that a full deck of cards is thoroughly shuffled, and then an unknown number of cards are removed, faces unseen.

The rest of the cards are shown, face up, one at a time for just a few seconds each, and after all of these remaining cards have been displayed, your task is to name the ones that were removed at the beginning of the demonstration.

Well, I hadn’t performed this particular memory demonstration (and that’s what it is – there’s no trick to it) for many years. In fact, I’ve not even done any magic or magic-related activities since moving to the USA a few years ago.

The net effect of this is that I am a bit rusty on all things magical, especially when it comes to some of the mnemonic stuff that I (literally) used to do with my eyes shut.

So, the other day, I thought I’d try doing the Missing Card Stunt, just to see how I fared. (We were also in the middle of yet another power cut, so there was little else to occupy me at the time.)

I got out the only pack of cards I could find (which was odd, as I must have brought dozens of them with me), gave them several really good shuffles (Faro shuffles – one technique that I’ve managed not to completely let slip), and then removed five cards.

I know, it’s meant to be an unknown number, but I was giving myself a slight bit of help, given that I’ve not attempted this stunt since some time in the early 1990s.

I then dealt all of the remaining cards, one by one (and face up, of course, otherwise it becomes a whole different experiment), and although it took me a little bit longer than it used to, I was pleased overall with the speed.

The moment of truth came … was I able to name the missing five cards?

Rattling through the pack in my mind, I identified what I believed to be the missing cards in very little time, but was I correct?

I removed the five cards I’d hidden earlier, and turned them over, one by one, to find that I was 100% correct!

To say that I was pleased would be an understatement.

I know, it’s not exactly Nobel prize-winning stuff, but for my mind to have retained the necessary information and skills to achieve this after over ten, or maybe 15, years, was impressive, I thought.

You see, the thing with mnemonics is that, at first, you do need to practise frequently, otherwise the “memory hooks” that you create fade away.

To be fair, I used to practise card-related memory work once a week, for many years, albeit not this particular stunt.

And it appears as though, however much practice I put into this arguably useless skill all that time ago, the skills are still there, dormant, but capable of being reanimated.

If you’re interesting in learning some useful memory training techniques, then the book I really learned from, other than the Robert Harbin one (which was called “Instant Memory“) that got me started all those years ago, was co-written by world-famous magician and memory expert, Harry Lorayne, and Jerry Lucas (a basketball player).

It’s simply called “The Memory Book“, and it contains everything you need to know to apply several memory training techniques that not only allow you to perform bizarre demonstrations such as the Missing Card Stunt, but also provide useful tools for day-to-day life.

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The Most Famous Magician, Ever!

I have been an amateur magician for a long, long time now, and I find it somewhat amazing that even today, if you ask somebody (i.e. a non-magician, or lay person as magicians somewhat disparagingly refer to them as) to name a famous magician, a large percentage of people will still reply “Houdini”, even though he’s been dead since 1926.

Houdini, who began his performing career as a fairly average magician, turned to escapology and became a huge hit, especially in Europe.

His showmanship skills were probably even more impressive than anything, however, and that is one reason why his name is still bandied around today.

If you’re planning an event for your club, then I can highly recommend an illustrated, multi-media talk that a good friend of mine, Mick Hanzlik, presents. This talk is not only aimed at magicians – he has successfully presented it to many different types of organisation, because the whole subject of Houdini is so fascinating.

You can find out more at www.MickHanzlik.co.uk – click on Houdini’s name for details of his talk.

(Mick developed an interest in Houdini because he himself is a Master Locksmith, based in Northampton, England.)

[tags]magic,houdini,hanzlik,locksmith[/tags]

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