Mentalism is a performing art that is similar to magic in many respects. The line between magic and mentalism can often become blurred. Mentalism practitioners use the same basic principles and magic secrets that magicians use in their craft, however, the difference between magic and mentalism lies in the type of effects that are performed. Effects that mentalists perform are generally creations of apparently supernatural abilities of the mind. This includes effects such as mind reading, psychokinesis, extra-sensory perception, precognition, clairvoyance and mind control.
Mentalism acts can be traced back directly to tests of supernatural powers that were carried out by so-called "mediums, spiritualists and psychics" in the 19th Century. However, the history of mentalism has been recorded as far back as 1572 to a performance by magician Girolamo Scotto.
Mentalist vs Magician
Mentalism has often been thought of as "boring", however charismatic performers such a Derren Brown and television shows such as "Phenomenon" been able to change the perception of mentalism somewhat. There is also a trend of magicians become mentalists because mentalism appears more "believeable" to an audience than standard magic tricks. It is often claimed that Mentalism is the only area of magic that an audience can consider to be "real".
Mentalists tend to avoid "standard" magic tricks altogether because doing so associates mentalism with the 'trickery' employed by magicians. Some mentalists claim not to be magicians at all, arguing that it is a different art form altogether. There are exceptions to this including the likes of David Blaine and David Copperfield, who mix aspects of mentalism together with their magical illusions.
Many mentalists actually claim to possess supernatural powers such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, or telekinesis and, whilst there are some people who believe this to be true, this belief is disputed by scientists, skeptics, magicians and mentalists. Some mentalists openly admit to using less than supernatural skills to achieve their craft. Some tend to disguise their methods by giving false explanations such as claiming to be read body language or to manipulate someone subliminally through psychological suggestion.
The Book Test
A standard mentalism effect is the book test. A books is chosen at random by an examiner (usually a member of the audience) and opened at a random page. The examiner would then concentrate on a word, sentence or paragraph of his or her choice. If the mentalist can discover the thought-of word(s), apparently using only "mental powers", then he passes the "test.". The magic secrets on how these effects can be achieved vary greatly. There are various methods available to accomplish that generally involve either forcing some one to pick a particular word whilst apparently giving a free or random choice or somehow obtaining a glimpse at the word the spectator is looking at after it has been written down.
Living-and-dead test
In the living-and-dead test, the names of a deceased people are mixed in with names of people still living. They are all written on identical slips of paper. The feat involves the mentalist using mental powers to separate the living from the dead. There are once again, various methods to replicate this. Many can be attributed as variations of card magic effects such as "Out Of This World" or "Oil And Water" where the magician is able to magically separate red cards from black cards.
Yours Magically
Solomon
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