Module 2 – Part 2: The ‘Square Circle’…
Benji
The ‘Square Circle’…
Let me ask you something:
If I asked you why tourists are invariably drawn to Skyscrapers, what would you say?
It’s not a trick question.
The vast majority of people will give me the same answer:
The view.
That’s why we queue for hours and pay hard-earned money to get to the to of the Empire State, after all.
In fact, just last year I went up the Empire State myself. Here’s something I found very interesting:
While we were at the top, there was never ‘one’ view.
There were four different views, based on where we were stood.
One for each side of the building—North, East, South and West.
Each view was beautiful, but they gave us different things—the Rockefeller center over here, the Statue of Liberty over there.
All were wonderful, breathtaking views—but very unique.
Our memorized deck ‘Skyscraper’ is very similar.
After all, when people watch our magic, what are they doing?
Viewing.
This ‘view’ that they get from our magic can, like a Skscyrpaer, be wonderful and breathtaking.
But, like a Skyscraper, they can also be very different.
I’d like to propose that, like a Skyscraper, we have 4 main categories of ‘views’ we can provide our audience with using the memorized deck.
(This is NOT an exhaustive categorization of card magic in general, rather, what I feel the memorized deck is the best ‘primed’ and structured for.)
Like a Skyscraper, those 4 views are our points on the compass—but you have a full 360-degree rotation by which you can choose to view unique points along those angles.
Your effects will fall into one of the 4 categories, but they can vary wildly between themselves based on their ‘angle’ and position within that view.
Hence the ‘Square Circle.’
Alright, enough philosophy.
These views are:
- Mental
Convince your audience that your mind has powers beyond most mortals by revealing cards they’re thinking of, displaying stunning feats of memory and intuition, and finding cards lost in a shuffled deck!
The memorized deck makes all of the above ‘child’s play’. In fact, the effects listed above are some of the MOST basic effects you can do with a memorized deck.
- Coincidental
Create moments that are ‘impossible coincidences’.
Cards appear at randomly chosen numbers, the spectator freely chooses cards that exactly match yours, and so many more instances of ‘fate’ that can only be explained by magic (or, y’know, a memorized deck.)
- Technical
Display stunning skill with playing cards—even when you have NONE at all! The memorized deck is like ‘cheat codes’ for sleight of hand demonstrations.
- Musical
Improvise, jam, and put together miracles on the spur of the moment—creating unique ‘one of a kind’ moments that will never be repeated!
Just like watching rock n’ roll concerts, the memorized deck is the greatest tool in magic for creating the ‘moment’ with your audiences—moments that have only happened once, and won’t happen again for anyone else! It’s special, and they feel it too.
In this module, we’ll dive a little deeper into each of these 4 ‘views.’ I’ll provide you with ‘case studies’ for each, so you can see this theory in action.
Then, you’ll get access to one of my personal effects within that category.
Along the way, we’ll also discuss the 7 key principles that makeup memorized deck magic—as well as the mindset you need to have while performing!
Let’s get started…