How to be a Successful

Medium...

… and other bedtime

stories for mentalists.

written by Mr.Paul Voodini

How to be a Successful

Medium...

… and other bedtime stories

for mentalists.

*

Paul Voodini

“I didn't become a mind-reader so I could become Mr. Light

Entertainment. I became a mind-reader so I could FREAK PEOPLE

OUT,” - Paul Voodini, February, 2013.

A TRUE STORY

“When I first turned professional as a magician, I was working, believe it

or not, in a pre-school nursery. The owner of the nursery was a slightly

short tempered business man aged around 60 years. When I handed him

my resignation, he asked what I was going to do when I left the nursery.

Very proudly I told him I was going to be a professional magician. 'Wow!'

he said, looking me up and down. 'I would never have thought it! Tell me,

do you write all your own jokes?'”

FOREWORD

I wanted to call this book 'How to be a Fraudulent Medium'. It is a title that

I've had in mind for a long time and kept on meaning to use. But I always

backed out at the last moment and went for a title that was less

controversial. Likewise with this manuscript. I really, really meant to call it

'How to be a Fraudulent Medium', but at the last minute I chickened out

again.

It's not that I want to be controversial for the sake of it. It was meant to be

a fun, jokey title, but I was worried about upsetting people from both sides

of the fence, both mediums and mentalists. So I watered down the title –

sorry. But if you like, in your mind, you can think of this book as really

being called 'How to be a Fraudulent Medium'. I know I do.

I also wanted to use that title because Derren Brown, in one of his TV

shows, claimed that there were books 'out there' that taught people how to

be fraudulent mediums. Well, you know, really there aren't. Oh sure, there

are books on how to do gimmicked Q&A shows, living and dead tests,

cold reading, and any number of magic flavoured routines. But none of

these routines are what mediums really do. They're sort of what magicians

think mediums do when they have never really seen a medium working

themselves.

So I thought it would be fun to put a manuscript out there that plainly was

how to do fraudulent mediumship, just in case Derren Brown ever said the

same thing again and this time he'd be correct!

Is this manuscript really encouraging people to become fraudulent

mediums? No, of course not. Let me explain...

INTRODUCTION

Before I start this book proper, I feel that I must first of all outline my own

personal feelings about the whole subject of mediumship and also lay to

rest a few misconceptions.

I have no quarrel with mediums in general, and this book is not intended to

be anything along the lines of an exposé. Having worked within the

esoteric community and met, and worked alongside, many mediums, I

know that the vast majority are good hearted people who genuinely believe

in the gift they feel has been bestowed upon them. Yes, of course, there are

one or two bad eggs out there who see mediumship as a fast track ticket to

fame and fortune, but they can generally be spotted a mile off, are usually

ostracised fairly quickly by the rest of the spiritual community, and they

soon discover that the road to success as a professional medium is long,

hard, and full of hurdles.

And of course there are good and bad people in all walks of life. There are

bad plumbers, bad doctors, bad coach drivers and bad policemen. It is the

make-up of mankind in general that there is amongst us the occasional bad

egg. However to believe that being a fake medium is a sure-fire way to

success, fame, and riches would be a huge mistake.

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS AS A MEDIUM

Most people, when they start to believe that they have the ability to

communicate with the spirit realm, start on a very local scale. They will

initially attend development classes run either by a new age group, usually

in an esoteric shop or village hall, or they will attend classes held at a

Spiritualist church. Tentatively they will start to give free 'readings' for

friends and after a year or so, if they feel comfortable with it, will start to

offer paid readings to the general public. This is on a one-to-one basis,

usually in their front room or perhaps in a corner of a new age shop, and is

far removed from any kind of show setting.

If they are drawn to the Spiritualist religion, they may start to give

platform demonstrations of their gift (usually referred to as 'demos') which

is starting to approach a more conventional show setting. However

Spiritualist churches pay visiting mediums very little (if anything at all),

and the medium may have to recoup travel expenses by offering private

one-to-one readings in the church after their demo. However this will

rarely be for a set fee, normally the church will insist that it is on a

voluntary contribution basis where the client pays the medium only what

they feel happy to pay or can afford. So, at the end of the day, the visiting

medium may find themselves out of pocket. The road to the bright lights is

indeed long, hard, and demanding.

The medium may then start to garner a reputation locally and may decide

to put on a public show. Normally this involves hiring a local hall and

selling tickets themselves. It is usually a 'all-hands-on-deck' type affair

with friends helping to promote the event and sell tickets, husbands/wives

manning the tea & coffee stall on the night, and a reliable friend dealing

with tickets and cash on the door.

If this night is successful, the medium may be encouraged to run another

one, and then another. Eventually the venue may become slightly more

salubrious, there may be actual genuine staff working behind the bar and

on the door, and the medium's reputation may begin to spread beyond her

local area.

This is the level that 99% of mediums stay at once (and if) they are lucky

enough to reach it. For an extremely lucky (or not, as the case may be) 1%,

they may be discovered by a talent scout or agency and may be invited to

begin a new journey that involves theatres, TV, and glossy magazines.

However this is very much the exception rather than the rule.

My experience and belief is that it is this 1% of mediums that find

themselves being wooed by the bright lights that ultimately give

mediumship the bad name that it has in some quarters. Consider this: you

have travelled the road to the bright lights via the route explained above.

But suddenly you find yourself surrounded by TV executives, theatre

managers, accountants, and magazine reporters. They don't give a hoot

about your 'gift' or your 'calling'. What they do care about is money. So

what they need is a medium who can deliver powerful messages on

demand. As soon as the director says “roll cameras”, or as soon as the

house-lights dim and the curtain goes up, they need a medium who can

deliver. Because of this pressure and the desire to not screw things up,

some mediums find themselves willing to compromise – compromise in

the same way that an athlete may compromise when he decides to take

performance enhancing drugs. The medium may decide to cheat.

But, despite its intentionally provocative title, this manuscript is not about

cheating per se, as the vast majority of mediums out there working in

village halls and new age shops and Spiritualist churches would never

dream of cheating (in the classic magician-minded sense) and would be

offended by the very notion.

So what, exactly, is this book all about then? Let me explain...

A GOOD MEDIUM

A medium is the only kind of performer that I am aware of that walks out

onto stage with no props at his disposal. A magician has odd-looking boxes

in which to saw people in half, a mind-reader has clipboards and envelopes

in which to place predictions, a juggler has his balls (ahem), a ventriloquist

has his doll . A medium walks out with nothing. And whatever you may

feel about the whole 'talking-to-the-dead' thing, there is something to be

admired in that and something almost poetical in its simplicity. After all, if

you were a real magician or a real mind-reader, if you could really weave

your magic without employing trickery of some kind or other, isn't that

how you would work? Simply walk out in front of the audience and say

“Hello, my name is XXXX and I can read your minds (or whatever).”

I therefore believe that by studying how a good medium works, all

performers can learn a great deal that will help and enhance their own

performance. No, I am not advocating that all magicians and mind-readers

suddenly become mediums, but I am saying that a good medium can teach

you a lot about stage presence and audience management, and also what

the audience expect of you as a 'magical' or 'esoteric' performer – because

like it or not, in the public eye, mediums come from the same stock as

mind-readers (mentalists) and magicians.

You will note that I used the phrase 'good medium' several times in the

previous paragraph. I did this quite intentionally because as I shall now

explain, there are some very bad mediums out there! And I don't mean bad

as in they are cheating or are faking anything, I mean they just aren't very

good at what they do! However they persist because they believe it is their

divine destiny to continue, that they have a calling, and that to not persist

would be to waste the gift given to them by spirit.

The fact that there are a lot of bad mediums out there should reinforce to

us the knowledge that the vast majority of mediums are doing what they

do with a good heart. They have no intention to rip anybody off, to take

advantage of anyone. How could they possibly take advantage of anyone

when they are so bloody awful at what it is that they do?! They do it

because they believe they have a gift to share, and despite all the knock-

backs, all the bad nights, all the sniggers and jeers from the audience, they

continue. There must be easier ways to rip people off.

Sadly the only thing we can learn from a bad medium is how not to do it,

so I suggest we concentrate on good mediums, and on one in particular.

Over the past 2 years I have been to see a particular medium work in

England many times. In fact I have seen him perform so many times that I

started to wear disguises in an attempt to not be recognised by his staff.

But the disguises don't work. The door staff still say, “Oh, you here

again?” every time I walk in. Perhaps they think I am a stalker. Which, in a

weird way, I am.

This particular medium, who I shall not name but who shall be referred to

from this point onwards as The Medium, works 5 nights a week, 50 weeks

a year, to audiences of between 100 – 200.

He mainly works in hotels, and has a deal with most local newspapers

throughout the UK. The deal is this: he hires the hotel room, the newspaper

promotes the event through adverts and perhaps the occasional article, and

they split the net profit 50/50. In the UK, most local newspapers are

owned by a few umbrella companies, so all he really has to do (and has

done) is secure the deal with the umbrella company.

Tickets are priced at, on average, £16. His average audience will be 120.

So on an average night he will gross close to £2000. Let us assume that the

fee for hiring the room in the hotel is around £250 (this fee is based on

research I have done at venues he uses, although I am positive he will be

able to negotiate a cheaper fee for repeat bookings), that leaves £1750.

Because of the amount of travel involved, I am positive that The Medium

and his small entourage stay overnight in the hotel. It is entirely possible

that accommodation is 'thrown-in' free of charge, but even if the required

rooms are charged at £150, this still leaves a net profit at £1600 per night,

split 50/50 with the newspaper. Bear in mind that this guy works hard –

performing 5 nights a week – and this hard work results in an estimated

pay packet (split between himself and his entourage) of approximately

£4000 per week. Yes, there is fuel and vehicle maintenance and the usual

living expenses to deduct from this money, but even so this seems to me to

be a very healthy recompense if you are willing to put in the hard work!

TALKING TO THE DEAD

I am of the opinion that talking to the dead (whether you believe you have

a gift or not) is slightly, well, icky unless handled incredibly sensitively.

But beware of falling into the trap of judging too hastily. Remember that

the vast majority of times this is done with a good heart. And besides, it's

what the paying audience have chosen (free will and all that) to

experience.

I fell foul myself of the 'don't judge too hastily' rule many years ago. I was

working as a host at a mediumship show. My job was to welcome the

audience, introduce the medium (NOT The Medium himself that we are

concentrating on in this manuscript), and then wish everyone a safe

journey home at the close.

After introducing the medium, I took my seat by the side of the stage. The

medium started by explaining how his 'gift' worked, and then he stopped

mid-sentence. He looked down at a woman in the audience. She was

perhaps in her mid-twenties and sat beside her was another woman, this

time in her mid-forties and was clearly the younger woman's mother.

Pointing at the younger woman, the medium said, “There's a child with

you, a spirit child. They're with you now.”

The woman looked at her mother and tears welled in her eyes. “No, no,”

continued the medium. “Not a child, a baby!” The woman now started to

cry and her mother put her arm around her. The medium persisted, “This is

your baby, isn't it? But wait, it's not even really a baby! This was a still-

birth! But the child is safe now. He's not in pain. He wants you, his

mummy, to know that everything is all right.”

The woman was by now crying heavily. She stood up and ran out of the

room, followed by her mother. As the host of the event I felt myself

responsible for the well-being of the guests, and so I hurriedly left the

room, pursuing the two women and silently cursing the medium for what I

considered to be a dirty trick.

The woman and her mother were just outside the doors to the room where

the show was. I approached them and said, “I am so, so sorry. Take it from

me, I will be reporting his actions to the event company first thing in the

morning. I can only apologise.”

The younger woman looked up at me, tears still rolling down her cheeks,

and said, “No, no. Don't you see? It's the most wonderful thing I've ever

heard. The baby's okay now. I can get on with the rest of my life.”

HOW WILL THIS BOOK HELP ME AS A MENTALIST/MIND-

READER?

I believe that I have already covered this subject, but I want to make sure

we're all on the same page. By examining how a medium works we will be

able to take that knowledge into our work as entertainers & mind-readers.

It will help us to add emotional resonance and power to our work. I DO

NOT advocate suddenly doing a centre-tear and claiming the knowledge

came from the volunteer's dead relatives. However what I do think is that

understanding the power of a performance based purely on audience

interaction (no props, no gimmicks) can help us to appreciate the simple

beauty and resonance of one person (you, the performer) talking with

understanding to another person (your volunteer).

A good medium is not screaming “Look at me! Look at me!” (although

I've seen some bad mediums who do exactly that). A good medium is

saying, “I understand you.” That simple phrase, that simple emotion, is

incredibly powerful. Do not say it in so many words, but have that emotion

as the foundation upon which to build a routine. You understand your

volunteer, you appreciate her, you know what makes her tick, and you

approve of her. With those phrases/feelings underpinning each routine,

your volunteer and audience will buy into you readily and easily. They will

see you as an understanding person, and not some idiot who just wants to

hog the limelight and prove to the world how clever he is. And it really

doesn't matter whether your back-story is psychic, NLP, body language, or

simply “weird stuff happens to me”. If your intention is to empower and

improve rather than belittle and out-smart, in my eyes you're a winner.

AUDIENCE MAKE-UP

As we shall see later, The Medium's audience is made up of 50% new

people (who have never seen him before) and 50% regulars (people who,

like me, have seen him previously). This percentage will vary obviously,

but it is an accurate generalisation. The vast majority of the audience

(some 90%) used to be female, but I have noticed a slight change over the

past year or so and more men are starting to attend The Medium's events. I

would estimate now that 75% are female.

The Medium has been working in this fashion, and running events in the

same circuit of cities and towns, for around 8 years now. The hotels he

works in may vary from time to time, but he tends to stick to the same

towns and cities and has built up a loyal following who will attend his

events almost every time he appears in their locale.

It is a general misconception by people who have never been to a

mediumship 'demo' that these events are very sombre affairs, with people

attending after being recently bereaved. This idea could not be further

from the truth. Most mediumship demos that I have been to (and I've been

to many) resemble a girls night out where the primary intention is to have

fun, meet friends, have a glass or two of wine, and enjoy a mysterious

show where there is the possibility that a deceased relative will 'come

through'. Yes, there will be one or two for whom this is primarily about the

hope of getting a message, but for the vast majority the whole point of the

evening is more to do with spending time with friends. It is a social event,

not a pilgrimage.

Spiritualist churches tend to be far more sombre affairs, the high point

being the tea and biscuits served after the service! Although mediumship

demos and Spiritualist churches have much in common – mediumship –

they are very different beasts.

GOOD VENUES/BAD VENUES

The choice of venue can often dictate just how successful an event will be.

The type of venue that always seems to work best is nicely intimate, not

too spacious, where The Medium can quickly and easily interact with the

audience, and where those sitting towards the back do not feel like they are

being ignored or are out of touch.

In a nice, intimate setting it is easy for The Medium to establish rapport

with the audience. He can physically walk out amongst the audience, kneel

besides them, hold their hand, or place a reassuring hand on a shoulder. If

he can work without the aid of a microphone, then all the better as this aids

the feeling of intimacy and friendship. Although, of course, using a

microphone is preferable to an audience not being able to hear what The

Medium is saying!

A nice intimate room is always far preferable to a large modern hall with a

high roof and plastic seating. Of course it is not always possible to use an

intimate setting, particularity if the expected audience numbers dictate the

use of a larger hall. The real trick then of The Medium is to attempt to

make even the most modern, airy, plastic-seated venue feel like it is a cosy,

intimate venue. This is done by the way he speaks, how inclusive and

friendly he is, and by how quickly good rapport is established. All of this

shall be covered shortly.

If unsure of exactly how many audience members can be expected, it is

always better to err on the side of caution. The sight of many empty seats

can have a detrimental affect on the atmosphere. Subconsciously the

audience may feel that the event is somehow a failure due to the fact that it

has not attracted the estimated number of attendees. In the case of

removable seating, it is far preferable to have to put out extra seating due

to queues of people waiting to enter the venue than have a hall half-full

with empty seats.

The Medium usually attracts audiences of between 100 and 200. If the

seating is set up for 200 and only 100 people turn up, the venue can feel

very empty. If however the venue was set up with 100 seats and each seat

is filled, then the event is deemed, subconsciously, a success.

With removable seating, it is essential that a walkway is set up in the

middle of the seats to allow The Medium easy access to all sections of the

audience. This ensures that The Medium is able to approach and stand

close to all sections of the audience, from front to back.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Occasionally The Medium will work alongside a psychic artist. The

psychic artist, allegedly, draws pictures of spirits that she is 'picking up on'

(usually the spirit that The Medium is addressing at that moment in time –

so if The Medium was passing on a message to a lady in the audience from

her deceased father, the psychic artist would attempt to draw a picture of

the father).

Initially this might sound like a good idea; it gives an added dimension to

the evening and the audience seem to be getting more bang for their buck.

However the psychic artist is not particularly good and The Medium seems

to spend half the evening trying to get drawings to fit with audience

members. This then reflects badly on The Medium; he is not spending time

doing what he is best at – namely delivering messages – but is spending

his time as a messenger boy for the artist.

The lesson from this is simple. Do not share the stage with another

performer. If they are better than yourself then they will outshine you, and

if they are not as good as you then this will reflect poorly on you. If you do

wish to present your audience with another performer, have them work as

a warm-up act, setting the scene for your arrival. But be aware that the

world of entertainment abounds with stories of warm-up acts that were far

superior to the 'headline' act!

SHOWTIME!

A facsimile of The Medium's ticket may be of interest. These are either

mailed out to those who purchase in advance, or are handed to everyone

who pays on the door.

EVENING

OF

CLAIRVOYANCE

ADMIT ONE

*

Mobile phones to be switched off

Filming and recording prohibited

Remain seated during performance

Tonight's demonstration is to be considered a form of scientific experiment, and

results cannot be guaranteed. Anyone who is of a nervous disposition, or

consider themselves vulnerable, are free to leave before we begin. Those who

stay do so of their own free will. Any guidance or advice is offered simply for

consideration.

The Medium's show ('demo') usually lasts from 7.30pm until 10pm, with a

half hour interval. The doors open at 7pm, allowing plenty of time for

people without tickets to purchase theirs on the night.

As the audience begin to arrive, The Medium can be seen helping to place

out extra chairs (if required) and chatting amiably with people as they take

their seats. The Medium attracts a high percentage of repeat customers

(people who have seen him before) and he always takes time to say hello

and talk to familiar faces. Before the show has begun he is demonstrating

to his audience what a nice guy he is, and anyone who is attending with a

slightly combative frame of mind finds themselves being gently won over.

With the audience seated, the doors closed, and the clock pointing to

7.30pm, the show can begin. The Medium sits on a stool and gently and

very amiably welcomes the audience.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to tonight's show. Can I just say

how nice it is to be back in XXXX (name of town/city). I've just got back

from working down in XXXX (a town/city far away) and let me tell you,

they're a grumpy bunch down there! God, they were hard work!”

This is usually met with laughter, and the audience members feel good

about themselves. Their egos have been gently stroked, and The Medium

has within a single sentence won them over. Now they're going to be a

good audience because they don't want The Medium to think that they're as

bad as those grumps down in XXXX! It's the oldest trick in the book of

course, but it still works. People are people, and a good ego stroke will

generally win them over. Tell them they're great and they'll love you for it!

“Now before we start, ladies and gentlemen can I just ask who has seen me

before? Who has been to one of my events before?” continues The

Medium. At this point around 50% of the audience will raise their hands.

“I do apologise to those of you who have been here before or who have

seen me working before, but there are a few points I have to highlight

before we start.

“Firstly, there are 3 different kinds of people who make up my audience.

Firstly there's this kind. (The Medium crosses his arms and looks stern).

This is the 'Come on then Mr. So-called Medium! Prove yourself to me,

bring someone through for me!' (At this point the audience will be

laughing). Well, that's fine. It's good to be sceptical and it's good to be

questioning, but I also need you to be open-minded. We need to work as a

team, and if you're putting out negative energy then there's no way that

anyone of yours in the spirit realm is going to come through. Why should

they? They'll probably think, 'I'm not coming through to speak to that

grumpy old sod!' (More laughter)

“The second kind is this. (The Medium bows his head down and attempts

to hide behind an upturned hand) This is 'Oh my God, if he brings

someone through for me I will absolutely die!' Well let me tell you, if

someone comes through for you, you won't die of embarrassment, I

promise you. I'm not here to show you up or make you look silly. I'm here

to help, and if a message comes through for you I will do my utmost to be

considerate and caring. And if you really do not want me to pass on a

message to you, just tell me. Just say 'No thanks', and I'll move on. It's

really not a problem.

“The third kind, well, I really like the third kind. (The Medium looks

bright and attentive). This is 'Come on mother, push yourself forward,

come through and give me a message!' (Laughter)

“But in all seriousness, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to help and a show

is only as good as an audience. So please, let's all work together and help

the spirits of your loved ones come through.”

This opening spiel serves many important purposes, and I'm sure you've

spotted most of them already. The audience is encouraged to be positive,

friendly, and to work in unison with The Medium. There is no sense here

of The Medium having to impress the audience with his abilities; the

evening is more about The Medium and the audience working together.

Each show is completely dependent on the audience to either make that

show a success or a failure. The nature of mediumship, and the nature of

the messages that are passed on, is such that they tend to always be

somewhat vague and open to interpretation. That means that in most cases

members of the audience could truthfully reply 'yes I understand' or 'no I

don't understand' to every statement thrown their way. The show is all

about individual audience members asserting that they understand (it is

essentially an ungimmicked Q&A session), so how does The Medium

ensure that his audience members 'play along' and assert agreement? By

being friendly, amiable, and by telling the audience, right at the start, that

they need work with The Medium. The Medium strokes their egos, tells

them how great they are, and tells them to not be challenging or

uncooperative. It is easier and nicer to agree with what The Medium is

saying than to be combative, a fly in the ointment, and disagree.

The Medium continues his preamble: “Now if I call out a name or a date

and you think that the message might be for you, put your hand up

quickly! Don't hang around, don't wait quietly at the back assuming that I'll

find you eventually. I won't. There will be a whole queue of spirits trying

to get through tonight to pass on their messages, and if you don't

acknowledge them right away, another spirit will barge in and get their

turn and your spirit, the one who came through to try and talk to you, will

get pushed right to the back of the queue. So please, if you think I might be

talking about you or about a loved one of yours, either in this world or the

spirit world, put your hand up and let me know, okay?”

This paragraph is very clever as it essentially informs the audience that if a

message is not accepted, if The Medium calls out a name or a date, and

nobody in the room accepts it, it isn't The Medium's fault. It is a member

of the audience who was too slow, too shy, or perhaps even too stupid to

accept it. It also ensures that there will be a ready stream of volunteers

ready to accept a message based on only the vaguest of details. “I have a

Dave here, anybody know a Dave?” and of course several hands in the

room will be raised. And The Medium has double the chance of hitting

because he said that names and dates could relate to a spirit or someone

still alive.

This isn't rocket science. It's having the balls to stand up and do it.

There now follows a typical interaction between The Medium and an

audience member. The preamble and the introduction is over. It's time to

talk to dead people!

THE 'TRICK'

The following explanation assumes that The Medium is not really

receiving his information from the spirit realm. This assumption may be

erroneous and I am perfectly willing to accept that. However as most

mentalists and mind-readers will not be receiving any information from the

spirit realm, I will continue on the assumption that a technique needs to be

employed in order to engage the audience and get them to bite.

The main tool of The Medium (and with most mediums) is names and

dates. So he will call out simply, “I have the name Dave. Would the name

Dave mean anything to anyone?” or “I have the month of June. Does the

month of June mean anything, towards the end of the month, probably 23rd

or 24th? Does that mean anything to anyone?”

In a room full of between 100 and 200, the odds are acceptably high that

someone will make a connection and raise their hand. Very often more

than one hand will be raised, and The Medium will make a judgement call

as to who he is going to work with. If no hands are raised, The Medium

may jokingly lambaste the audience for not raising their hands quickly

enough and move on to the next 'spirit' that is trying to come through. He

will, essentially, try another date/name and see if anyone bites this time.

The 'spirits' that come through are usually deceased parents or

grandparents. This can be judged by the age of the guest that The Medium

is engaging with. Someone in their 20's is more likely to be contacted by a

grandparent, someone in their 40's/50's, a parent. And if The Medium

makes a bad judgement call and says “This is your mother, right?” when

actually it is a grandparent, he can quickly save the situation by saying,

“Ah yes, grandmother, that makes sense. I was getting a very strong sense

of motherly love. Your grandmother was very much like a second mother

in a lot of ways, wasn't she?”

In any show the second most popular spirit to come through will be

deceased husbands/wives. As the make-up of the audience is mainly

female, the deceased husband is obviously more common. Again, this can

be judged by the age of the guest.

Following parents/grandparent and husbands/wives, there will also be a

smattering of deceased siblings and friends.

Perhaps the most important part of the trick is to listen, to allow the guest

time and opportunity to speak, to confirm the nature of their relationship

with the spirit, to fill in the gaps and make the connections. The Medium

needs to start quite vaguely, talk about the date or the name, but The

Medium should not (if the guest is shy or not forthcoming) be afraid to ask

outright for clarification. For this reason a date is a good opening gambit.

The Mediums calls out, “I'm getting a date, March, around the middle.

Perhaps the 15th or the 17th. Does this mean anything to anyone?”

The audience member replies, “Yes, I think that's me!”

The Medium: “Okay darling, I'm getting the middle of March, around the

15th. Does that date mean something to you?”

Guest: “The 16th March is my birthday!”

The Medium: “Ah, the 16th! I was getting between the 15th and the 17th, so

of course it's the 16th!”

That's a hit!

The Medium continues, “I'm also getting a name, Jack. Who's Jack?”

Guest: “That's my son!”

The Medium: “And is it your grandparents in spirit?”

Guest: “My grandmother. Not my grandfather.”

The Medium: “She's here now darling, and she's saying what a blessing

little Jack is! She wants you to know that she's always around you, looking

out for you.”

Here's a nice little move that The Medium will employ. At certain points

he will stop mid-sentence as though waiting for an inaudible voice to

speak to him. He will pepper these short periods by saying something like,

“Hmm? What's that? Speak up my darling? Thank you.”

The Medium, continues, “Oh, she's a bit of a character your grandmother!

She's dressed very smartly, she always wanted to look her best, and she's

telling me that she loved to dance! Does that make sense?”

If the guest confirms that it makes sense, perfect! If the guest isn't sure,

The Medium may continue, “Oh, I'm telling you my darling, she loved to

dance! She's dancing for me now and she's dancing to bring her love

through to you and little Jack!”

At this point The Medium has the guest and the audience hooked. This is a

'strong connection', he has had a few good hits and has turned a few misses

into hits by clever footwork. Now it's time to go for a few more solid hits,

safe in the knowledge that he can always turn any miss into an acceptable

hit. Let's examine a few different options:

The Medium: “Do you have any other children, darling? A girl?”

Guest: “Yes!”

The Medium: “Is she older than Jack?”

Guest: “Yes!”

The Medium: “Yes, your grandmother is letting me know about the little

girl as well.”

or

The Medium: “Do you have any other children, darling? A girl?”

Guest: “No, no other children.”

The Medium: “Ooh! Well this is interesting! Because your grandmother is

telling me about a little girl! It's not possible that you're pregnant is it?”

Guest: “Yes! Yes I am!”

or

The Medium: “Do you have any other children, darling? A girl?”

Guest: “No, no other children.”

The Medium: “Ooh! Well this is interesting! Because your grandmother is

telling me about a little girl! It's not possible that you're pregnant is it?”

Guest: “No! I don't think so anyway!”

Much good-natured laughter ensues among the audience.

The Medium (laughing): “Take it from me, darling! I'm not often wrong!

You just wait and see!”

or

The Medium: “Do you have any other children, darling? A girl?”

Guest: “Yes!”

The Medium: “Is she older than Jack?”

Guest: “No, she's younger.”

The Medium: “Younger? Okay then, tell me something. Does the little girl

sometimes act more grown up than Jack? Almost like she's got an old head

on her shoulders? Even though she's only young, sometimes she'll act or

look so grown up?”

Guest: “Yes, yes she does!”

The Medium: “Because your grandmother wants you to know that the little

girl is very special, darling. I don't know if you believe in reincarnation at

all, but I'll just say this: that little girl is very special and your grandmother

is watching over her.”

By being light on his feet and being quick witted, a near-miss can always

be turned into a hit. Lots of flattery, lots of talking about people being

'special', lots of love watching over us, and it is easy to win over an

audience and a guest and get them believing in you and your abilities.

I say 'easy', but it's not really. It's just that the trick isn't some great

unfathomable secret. It is purely down to how quickly and comfortably

The Medium can get the audience on his side. With the audience on his

side he can take them anywhere he wants to. It is something that some

people can do naturally and it is also something that some people will

never be able to do, no matter how many books they read. But we will

look at this again in a short while.

Once a good connection is established, The Medium will keep pushing his

luck until he reaches a cul-de-sac. For example, following our imaginary

exchange above, The Medium may say, “August 21st! What's August 21st!”

If the guest exclaims, “That's Jack's birthday!” or “That's my wedding

anniversary!” the 'connection' is allowed to continue, with the hits only

becoming more impressive. However if the guest looks confused and is

unable to make any connection with the date (or name – a name can be

used just as easily), The Medium will clap his hands and say, “It's not you!

I'm sorry darling, I'm going to leave you with your grandmother's love and

move on! August 21st! Coming through very strongly! Who connects with

August 21st?” And the game starts again.

And this is, essentially, the whole show. Cast the line out, get a bite, keep

pulling until the line snaps, and quickly cast again.

Something that is worth bearing in mind is that The Medium tours with the

same show 5 nights a week, 50 weeks of the year, and has been doing for

close to a decade. He has no need to change the act, no need to put in new

ideas, no use for fancy gimmicks or gizmos. He doesn't have to worry that

his act is getting stale or that people have seen it before. The very fact that

people know what they are going to get when they see him is a plus point!

He doesn't need to invest in new equipment or worry that electronic

gadgets will fail him when he needs them most. All he needs is an

audience. And the fact that every audience is different, made up of a

infinite combination of different people, he knows that each act will be

different. No two shows will be the same because no two interactions will

be the same. Yes, they will be similar (and that's a good thing, the formula

is a winning formula), but they will never be identical. The audience are

the stars, they bring the show with them, all The Medium has to do is ride

that beast for 2 hours with a 30 minute interval!

THE UNSAVOURY BARNUM STATEMENTS

Many in the mentalism community dismiss what mediums do as simple

cold reading. As we have seen thus far, nothing that can be perceived as

cold reading has been uttered by The Medium. However having seen The

Medium perform many times there are some statements that he does seem

to come back to again and again. They are not Barnum Statements (which

I will not repeat here as they are readily available in many other

publications or the internet), but they do seem to be sprinkled through his

show in a way that perhaps one would sprinkle Barnum Statements around

if one felt the need. The statements that The Medium tends to use usually

concentrate on the manner and nature of the spirit's death (their 'passing').

Therefore, because of this, I find them a little bit 'icky' and I call them the

Unsavoury Barnum Statements. I would never use them (mainly because I

don't talk to the dead!), and I am not suggesting that you use them. I

recount them here purely for research purposes (as they say).

• He/she wants you to know that they don't mind that you weren't there

when they passed.

• He/she passed very quickly at the end. They were there one moment

and gone the next.

• He/she lost a lot of weight towards the end. You remember looking at

them and thinking how small they looked.

• He/she says thank you for the flowers.

• He/she says the funeral was funny. It wasn't meant to be, but there

were some laughs and he/she is very pleased that there was fun.

• He/she wants to thank you for doing their hair. (This is referencing

the body in the coffin and the relative stroking or brushing the hair

of the deceased)

• He/she has put the weight back on now, they're looking a lot healthier

now.

• It is pointed out that when a person dies and they go to

heaven/summerland/spirit realm, their appearance changes back to

when they were at their prime. All injuries or illnesses are washed

away.

SOCIAL COMPLIANCE

Perhaps in a similar way to a hypnosis show, there is a lot of social

compliance going on at a mediumship show. Having been selected by a

medium several times at several shows myself, I can tell you that when the

medium is pointing at you and is throwing names/dates/facts at you, there

is an intense amount of pressure to simply say 'yes' and go along with it. It

seems far easier to just agree to things that the medium is saying, even if

they make no sense to you at all, simply to get the spotlight off you. If you

also like the medium, if you have warmed to him, there is also the fact that

you may not want to upset him or make him look silly. You may decide to

play along simply to make life easier for the medium. Obviously if you

dislike the medium, if you think he is an idiot, that pressure does not come

to bear, therefore it is of supreme importance that the audience like the

medium and have no desire to make him look a fool.

However whenever I hear an audience member reply to a statement from a

medium with phrases such as 'sort of', 'a little', 'maybe', 'I think so',

because I know how this works (I think), in my head I'm hearing the

audience member trying to say 'no' but being unable to do so. But that

doesn't matter because the rest of the audience are hearing 'sort of',

'maybe', and 'I think so', all of which sound awfully like 'yes'.

HOW TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE LIKE YOU

This is a skill that some lucky souls seem to be able to demonstrate quite

naturally. For others it comes with a little practice. And for some it will

never happen. There is something about their demeanour, something in

their walk, or something in their tone of voice that means for whatever

reason an audience can't warm to them. Often it is down to the fact that the

performer is nervous and tries to compensate for this nervousness by

behaving in an overly confident manner, or by being sharp tongued.

Sometimes it is just a certain something, a je ne sais pas, that means an

audience will always struggle to like some people.

However, luckily, for most it is a skill that with a little experience and self-

belief can be acquired. Let us examine how to get an audience to like you,

and to like you quickly.

1. Dress in a manner that leads the audience to believe that you do not

see yourself as being better than them. This does not mean that you

cannot dress smartly – of course you can. But overt displays of

wealth, too much jewellery, too stuffy a shirt and tie, may lead an

audience to believe you see yourself as being somehow 'above' them.

A smart suit and shirt is often enough. A medium (and to some extent

a mentalist) can get away with wearing a new age style outfit: kaftan,

open-toed sandals, etc. But be warned that this style of dress must be

entirely congruent with your character. If you're just pretending, the

audience will pick up on it and will know instinctively. A little bit of

individuality in the mode of dress is expected, we are talking about

mediums and mind-readers here. Try not to look like a bank manager.

The most important point of all is to wear what you feel most

comfortable in (within reason). If you absolutely hate wearing a shirt

and tie, do not walk out onto stage wearing them! Your body

language will be all wrong, the fact that you feel uncomfortable will

transmit itself to your audience, and the one thing they will

remember about you afterwards is the fact that you kept tugging

away at the collar of your shirt all night long! Look at how the

mediums on TV dress; smart enough but still able to relate to the

man on the street.

2. Use open armed gestures, be earnest, open yourself up to the

audience. Be self-depreciating, be quick to poke fun at yourself and

to play down your own abilities. You are normal yet blessed with a

gift that you are eternally grateful for, and all you want to do is share

this gift. Be very cautious about poking fun at the audience or

individuals in the audience unless it is done in a warm-hearted

manner.

3. Be interested in audience members. If they want to talk, let them.

This is their show, not yours.

4. Walk out into the audience (so far as possible). Kneel down beside

people as you engage with them, put a reassuring hand on their

shoulder. Address them with terms of endearment such as 'darling',

'my love', 'angel'. Don't be afraid to hug them or shake their hand.

HOW DOES ALL THIS HELP MY MENTALISM?

The Medium starts each interaction by throwing out a name(s) and/or

date(s). The Medium ends the interaction when a further name or date

doesn't hit. This he claims is because the link has been broken and the

name/date belongs to someone else in the audience. He therefore throws

this name/date out to the wider audience, someone bites, and the process

begins again.

Let us take that framework, dismiss the 'talking to the dead' bit, and wrap it

around a standard mentalist routine. For the purpose of our demonstration

we will use a simple billet switch routine. The billet switch routine

comprises simply of a volunteer writing down the Christian name of their

first boyfriend/girlfriend. The performer then switches the billet, gets the

peek, and at the end of the routine hands the original billet back to the

volunteer as a memento.

The first thing that is needed is a volunteer. Rather than simply choosing a

volunteer at random or throwing a giant beach ball out into the audience,

let us take a leaf from The Medium's show. Let's open the doors to chance,

and let it walk in and help us out.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” begins the performer, “I'm picking up on a name.

The name is Mary. I'm feeling the name very strongly, do we have a Mary

in the room tonight?”

Three hands are raised. Mary is a very common name so we should not be

surprised that there is more than one in the room.

“Ah,” says the performer, “we have more than one Mary! No wonder I was

picking up on it so strongly! (This is hit # 1, you correctly divined the fact

that there was at least one Mary in the room. It isn't a big hit, but it is a

hit, the start of your demonstration, the ball is rolling)

The performer continues: “I'm also getting the month of April. That's very

strong too. Does April mean anything to any of our Marys?”

One Mary calls out, “Yes, my birthday is in April!”

“Fantastic!” says the performer. “I was getting a very strong sense of Mary

and April. I think this is very definitely you! Will you step forward and

join us? And many thanks to the other Marys who put their hands up –

thank you.”

Mary steps forward, and the performer conducts the billet routine outlined

above. He correctly 'picks up on' the name of her first boyfriend.

Following this the performer says, “And Mary, can you tell me who Joe

is?”

“Oh my god!” exclaims Mary. “Joe is my current boyfriend!”

“Ah,” says the performer, “that makes perfect sense. Is Joe here tonight?”

“Yes,” says Mary, “he's over there.”

The performer turn to the audience and says hello to Joe. “One last thing,”

says the performer, “June 24th or maybe the 27th? Something like that? Late

June. What does that mean?”

Mary looks puzzled. “No, not sure about that. Can't think of anything.”

“Okay!” says the performer. “It's not you Mary. It's someone else. I'm

picking up on someone else in the audience, so I need to move on. Can we

thank Mary please? Give her a big round of applause as she makes her way

back to her seat!”

The audience applaud and Mary returns to the audience.

“So!” says the performer. “Late June? The 27th, something like that. Who

does that make sense to? There's somebody in the audience who June 27th

or thereabouts belongs to, who is it?”

A hand in the audience is raised. The performer has a second volunteer for

his next routine.

Now, if Mary has accepted the late June date, if for instance it had been

somebody's birthday or an anniversary, then the performer would have

gone along with that. Of course it belonged to Mary! But since Mary

wasn't willing to take the date, the performer does not panic. It's all quite

simple. The date doesn't belong to Mary, of course not! It belongs to

someone else in the audience, and Mary's time in the limelight is over.

Time to move on.

So the performer is safe in the knowledge that he has a good strong

mainstream mentalism routine (doesn't have to be a billet, of course, could

be whatever you favour) at the heart of the presentation. He knows this

routine is strong and will elicit the required sense of wonder. Confident in

this he can wrap this routine in something that is a little more open-ended.

He is going to call out essentially random names and/or dates that he is

'picking up on' in order to select a volunteer. He can be confident because

he knows that the odds are in his favour that a common name or a vague

date will mean something to someone in the audience. But that is not how

it will be perceived by the audience or the volunteer. As far as they are

concerned the performer was picking up all sorts of details about them

right from the beginning. Straight away he knew the name, the birthday,

then he went on to get the name of the first boyfriend and the name of the

latest boyfriend! It is just one hit after another.

To the performer it is simply a random name thrown out to select a random

volunteer. To that volunteer and to the audience though, that was the first

hit, the first demonstration of the performer's uncanny abilities.

Once the mainstream mentalism routine (in our example the billet peek) is

finished, the performer pushes his luck. He randomly picks another name.

In our example it hits. He then pushes his luck a touch further with the

June date. That doesn't hit. No problem. It belongs to someone else.

Original volunteer returns to her seat and the process starts again (perhaps

with a different mentalism routine, a book test for example) at its heart.

If Mary had also accepted the late June date, then great! More hits!

However if the name 'Joe' had meant nothing to Mary, no problem. Of

course Joe doesn't belong to Mary, it's for someone else, thanks Mary, back

to your seat, on with the show, “Who does the name Joe belong to? Why

am I picking up the name Joe?”

So there is no random volunteer selection. It all means something. The hits

start right from the off, and there's no pre-show involved. It's completely

clean, no mess to clean up, it's just the performer calling out names. But

it's all hits.

And if no-one in the audience puts up there hand, if for example there

were no Marys in the audience? Well you covered all this in your

preamble. Obviously Mary was too shy or not quick enough putting up her

hand. She missed her chance. Time to throw out another name. As far as

the audience are concerned the fault is not with the performer but with

Mary who didn't volunteer herself. If this happens, do not panic! Your next

name or date will hit. And you have that amazing billet/book test/whatever

routine just waiting to blow them all away. This is all build-up, it is

ratcheting up the tension, it is drama, it is performance.

ENDING THE SHOW

When the time comes to thank the audience for attending and to say 'good

night', The Medium is as always the perfect host. He is humble and

thankful that people have taken the time to attend tonight's show, he hopes

that people have found some comfort, hope and understanding from the

messages that have been passed on, and he wishes them all a safe and

comfortable onward journey. He may even make a little joke along the

lines of, “Drive carefully because the next time I'm here I don't want it to

be you coming through from the spirit realm saying 'Bloody hell! Wish I'd

driven a bit more carefully!'”

AFTERWORD

I hope you have enjoyed this little foray into the world of the medium, and

have seen how techniques from that world can be incorporated into the

world of mentalism to provide a more powerful and personal performance.

If you get the opportunity to see a medium at work, particularly in what

might be considered an entertainment setting, I strongly advise it. But be

warned, not all mediums are good at what they do! You might find

yourself witnessing a show that has you cringing with embarrassment or

stifling the sniggers! But, you know, that can be entertaining too!

Thanks for being there!

Paul Voodini

March 2013