Air Writer

Written by DekEl and Timon Krause

IntroductionI cannot begin to say how long and how many hours I have sat thinking, thinking,

thinking, trying to come up with a way to perform the effect you will soon read in

this book. I knew that something that could give me instant access to thought of

letters or numbers, no matter how transparent or how well veiled, would be a

priceless addition to my arsenal, with limitless possibilities.

Thus it is my honor to present you with the Air Writer. If you present it well, with

the correct justifications and the right focus in your routine, thus effect will

become your very best of friends, your favorite of tools.

I must add, additionally, that it is my highest hope that you, as the reader, will

only use this for entertainment, and not tread along the darker side of our art.

Read the effect, prepare a solid justification, a well-structured routine that directs

the focus to your mind reading, and then practice, practice, practice. Adapt it as

needed, and perform it well, more opinion rule.

Finally, thank you, for supporting Timon and I by purchasing our work.

Table of ContentsEffect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

What the effect can look like.

Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

An introduction, and an inclusion of Mene, Mene, Dekel.

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

How to perform Air Writer with letters and words.

Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

How to perform Air Writer with all digits.

Zodiac Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Different ways to get at someone's zodiac sign.

Book Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Just a few of the many ways that Air Writer can be used with books.

Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

How to gain access to thought of cards using Air Writer.

Drawing Duplications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

How to perform a drawing duplication with Air Writer.

States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

A powerful effect wherein you predict the state a spectator will think of.

ESP Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

A prediction effect with ESP symbols.

Routines by Timon Krause . . . . . . . . . .29

Some routines provided by Timon Krause using Air Writer.

Notes by Timon Krause . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Justification by Steven Keyl . . . . . . . . . 35

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

EffectImagine that a spectator walks up to you and says this:

If you can really read minds, then what am I thinking of, right now?

You're prepared for this. You can jump off from their word to a new one, or get

them to write it on a billet and then perform a peek, but instead, you have them

write their word in the air, letter by letter. You do not watch them write the word,

you honestly don't peek. You don't have a stooge, and you're not using dual

reality, you have no gimmicks. No props. Just yourself and your spectator. They

write their word in the air. And then you name it. From Card to Hat to Robert to

Book to TV to Radio to Remote to Pillow to Chain, you know what they are thinking

of. Without forcing, without peeking, without electronics.

Imagine asking a spectator to make up a PIN number in their mind and then write

it in the air, or have them use their actual PIN number. Imagine naming a

spectator a time, card, zodiac sign, or phone number, without fishing, that they

merely wrote in the air out loud, or using that information further in your routine.

While the method is designed for English, it can work in any language.

Welcome to the Air Writer.

MethodAir Writer is based off of Mene, Mene, Dekel (MMD), which was an effect included

in my previous book, MindCraft: Psionics, and the last of the MindCraft series. The

effect left me feeling like some ends were untied, like something more could be

done with the method. I messed around with letters, line segments, fishing, all to

no avail. Then Timon Krause, of the Psionics reviewers hit upon a wonderful idea.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First let me allow you to read the basic method

for MMD:

To perform this effect, you need practice, guts, and most of all superb spectator

management. Position your hands like the picture to the right.

That invisible rectangle is going to be your wall that your

spectator will write on. The larger you make it the more

accurate your air reading will be. You could say something

along the lines of the following:

Performer: Can you see the rectangle formed by my fingers?

Spectator: That? Yeah.

Performer: I've only told a few people this, but I have the ability to see things a

few seconds after they've happened. Optic signals take longer for my brain to

decode then they do in other people. To show you how this works, do me a favor

and think of a number from 1 to 100 that has two even digits. Do that right now.

Spectator: [pause] OK, I got one.

Performer: Great, now I'm going to turn my head and close my eyes in just a

second, and I want you to draw the first digit of your number in the rectangle

formed by my hand. Make it big, because it's already hard enough to see an air

drawn number, let alone a tiny one, but don't touch my hands while your doing it.

When you're done, just keep you finger where you finished drawing and say

'Done'. By holding the end position for a few seconds it helps me pick out the

motion. Here, let me show you.

At this point draw a random digit in the air. Make it large, pause for a few seconds

at the end as you say done. This will cement the pause at the end in their mind.

Performer: You got it?

Spectator: Yes.

Performer: [turns head far away and closes eyes] Alright, go ahead.

Spectator: [draws first digit] Done.

Performer: [turns head back] Perfect, now for the second digit. Do exactly what

you just did for the second digit.

Spectator: [draws second digit] Done.

Performer: Great. I may be wrong because it's sometimes hard to tell numbers

apart, but I think I saw the number 64. Is that right?

Spectator: Yes!

Now that you've heard the performance, here's the method: all you're doing is

watching where there finger tip ends. Even though people write some numbers

differently (most notably 8), and some numbers have the same ending location

(like the way some people can write 1, 7, 9, and 4, or 3, 5, and 7, among other

combinations), if you choose only even numbers, you can still give them a wide

range of numbers to choose (22, 24, 26, 28, 42, 44, 46, 48, 62, 64, 66, 68, 82, 84,

86, and 88) from. 16 in all, in a way that won't make them mess up like limiting

them to the classic force of numbers from 50-100 with only two different even

numbers might. The choice seems wide and fair, is easy to come up with, and not

too hard to discover. Plus, worst case you can just blame their handwriting if

you get a digit wrong; and it's pretty hard to get them wrong since there are only

4 digits they could be writing.

Here is the diagram that shows you the possible locations that they could end on:

As you can see, I flipped the image so that you

can see what it will look like from your side

(because the audience's writing will be mirrored

to you). As you can see, 4 will end somewhere

around the middle, maybe a little to the left of it.

8 can be in the very center if you write them like

I do, or anywhere in the top section if you write

like most people. 6 will always be on the right

center, and 2 will always be in the bottom left corner. Thus, as long as you get

them to hold their finger after they finish the drawing, and get them to draw large

enough (both of which you reinforce by a quick demonstration), you will always be

able to tell what digit they wrote. You can always change the size of the box if you

are having difficulty.

An interesting technique you can use for many other applications then just

proving the little story I concocted. The nice thing about it is that you never

need props of any kind. The effect might seem transparent, but it is not.

Right, so now that you've read MMD, I can jump into Air Writer. MMD in itself can

be used to reveal thought of PIN numbers, it can be used in book tests, etc. It's a

solid effect in itself, simple, and not in the least transparent. But letters, how

could they be revealed? There are 26 of them, and only 9 possible locations where

they could end. The solution: look at the start of the letters as well as the end.

Using this, you can pinpoint virtually any letter. Obviously you'll have to reverse

everything because the spectator's drawings will be mirrored when you see them,

but the technique remains the same. This will also work for numbers, or even

zodiac signs. Now let us examine the possibilities individually.

One major note: Steven Keyl, a Psionics reviewer (of Magic Book

Report), has kindly allowed me to use his excellent justification for Air

Writing. It helps a lot for crowd management. I strongly suggest that you

read it (at the end of this book).

LettersArguably the most important use of the Air Writer, letters are also the most

difficult to read, simply because there are so many of them. The justification that

will be used for letters and any technique that uses looking at the start and

ending points will be this:

Tell the participant that you'll need him to write the name as fast a possible so

the after-image is as clear and fresh as possible. Then tell him to go into 'starting

position' and put his finger to where he'll start to write. Close your eyes, say "Go"

and ask him to tell you as soon as he's done. This is just another approach to the

whole thing and they'll be sure that you truly couldn't see anything.

Make it into a timing thing, as if you care how fast they are writing, thus you

naturally want them to be ready to start immediately, e.g. you start a race in a

leaned over position, leg back, at the starting line, waiting for the signal to begin.

On the next page are the letter maps I've constructed, both normal and mirrored. I

know what you're thinking (I'm a mentalist after all :) ): why is there more then

one letter in the boxes. Or perhaps you are thinking: what are those boxes

anyways.

The boxes represent the location of your spectator's finger. Also, look at the

green, red, (and sometimes orange) dots. The green dots are where the letters

start. The red ones indicate where the letter ends. There are 9 boxes, one for each

basic location that a spectator will place their finger. Inside of the 9 boxes, you

can see nine more spots, that roughly indicate where the spectator's finger will

end (if the smaller box was as big as the whole table).

This might take a little getting used to, so go ahead, look over the charts and try

and figure out how everything fits together. For example, if your spectator started

their letter in the bottom right corner, and ended on the center left side, you

would look to the box in the bottom right corner in the mirrored table (or the

bottom left one in the normal table), and then locate the letter in the center left of

that box, the letter A.

Another thing to notice is that there are some mini-boxes inside of the bigger

ones, that hold clumps of letters. Furthermore, some letters are blue and some

black. The blue letters are the ones most likely to be chosen from a given clump.

Some letters, like K, Q, J, X, V, and Z, are very, very, unlikely to be chosen by a

spectator. Others, like E, T, A, or N, are very likely choices. These likely ones are

printed in blue. One note on N: sometimes it is written such that it starts at the

top of the left hand side, instead of the bottom.

The next thing you are going to need to do, is memorize this table. I know what

you're thinking (again). There's no way I can memorize all of that! That's where

you're wrong. The effect works and retains some its transparency because your

spectators will assume that you can't memorize something like that.

But even memorizing the table isn't all that bad. The best way to do it is to use it.

See in what spots letters from words would go. You're mind will pick them up in

chunks and begin to notice useful tricks. You will automatically remember the blue

ones first, and then gradually the black ones as you need them. Some of the

letters are virtually interchangeable until you need to construct the whole word,

like D and B, or C and G: Car and Gar... Which could it be? Both sound and look

similar enough to memorize as one. If you only memorize the blue letters, you will

be able to bring the word together very quickly about times, yet you're only

memorizing 17 letters. Actually, the first handful of letters make up over 50% of

usage. Again, the best way to learn the chart is by practice, lot's of practice. One

other note, if their letter starts in the top left and ends in the bottom right or

center right, look quizzical and ask your spectator if the letter's a vowel. This will

make your job a lot easier, as the letter E is a very common one. It's easy to

choose between R and L, but E, R, and L get a bit difficult to manage, plus, most

of the time it will be E anyways, and you will know for sure and not have to mess

around with L or R. L or R can be hard to determine, so sometimes on this one I

ask if the letter has a curve in it, it helps considerably. The rest of the sets are

pretty straight forward. O, however, always starts and ends in roughly the same

spot, no matter where they start it, like the letter C. Normally it will start

somewhere around the top. The hardest letter is I. The easiest solution for I is just

to note them that when writing it, that they should just right a line instead of

adding the bars on top and bottom of it. Also, sometimes they start the A at the

top (as my crib sheet reflects). Often times, just getting the first and last letters of

a short word will let you know the word itself.

Additionally, when I ask for a word, I often ask my spectator to think of a simple

noun, something that you can see. This generally makes the word much shorter

and makes it easier to tell what it is.

Now I think a demonstration is in order to show you how well the system works.

Here is some patter and dialogue, along with what's running along through my

mind. I used to use a crib sheet for the letters, but you don't have to after a few

hours practice.

Performer: Do me a favor and think of a simple noun.

Spectator: [pause] OK, I got one.

Performer: I'm going to try and see your word, one letter at a time. I'm going to

try and see an after image in the air of your word. Here, can you see the space

between my hands? Pretend that's a white board. I'm going to ask you to write

your letters on that board, one at a time, in capitals. I want you to use up as much

space as possible. Also, I want to get as much of the after image as possible, so

you're going to bring your finger to where your letter starts, then I'm going to turn

my head and say Go, you will draw your letter, hold your finger at the end and

then say Done, quickly. Here's an example [demonstrate it for a letter]. Then we'll

move on to the next letter and so on.

Spectator: OK.

Performer: Alright, now for the first letter. Bring your finger up to the start of your

letter, now I'll turn my head, close my eyes, and... Go!

Spectator: [draws letter] Done.

Performer: [turns back around, and waves their hand away]

At this stage, I've seen the starting point, which was just above the left center,

and the end point, which was in the left center. Mirroring this to find the actual

letter, I think of and remember the letter C/G. C is blue, so I'm leaning towards it.

Performer: Great... let me just look at the air for a moment to catch the after

image... [this buys you time to think of the letter], alright done. Onto the next

letter. Finger to the start of the second letter, I turn my head, and Go!

Spectator: [pause] Done.

Performer: [turns back around, and waves their hand away]

I saw that their second letter started in the top center and ended a little to the left

of it's starting spot. This clicks in my mind as the letter O. So now I have CO/GO.

Since I know it has to be a noun, I know there must be more letters.

Spectator: Yeah, two more.

Performer: OK, finger to the start of the third letter, and... Go.

Spectator: [pause] Done.

Performer: [waves hand away]

I know that the letter started in the bottom right (their left), and ended to my

center left, yet somewhat close to the center. When it's close to the center I

always know it's an A, from practice. A is the only possible choice. So far we have

C/G O A. Now for the next letter.

Performer: Now for the last letter. Bring your finger to the start of it... Go.

Spectator: [pause] Done.

Performer: [turns around, and waves away their finger]

I saw their finger start in the top right and end in the bottom center. Mirroring this,

I think of the letter T or Y. T is blue, so I toss away Y. I now have Coat or Goat,

most likely coat, because C was blue.

Performer: Are you thinking of the word coat, or maybe goat?

If I was absolutely sure about the first letter, such as if it was a P (as in Pot), or N

(as in Nail), then I would ask them to draw their object in the air, claiming that

that's why I asked them to think of a noun in the first place.

I know this sounds complex, but as soon as you've memorized the table, or gotten

used to it by using a crib sheet, you will find it the easiest and most natural thing

to do. If you want to, you can draw a mini-crib sheet or palm one in your left hand,

and when you raise your hands to create the screen, keep your left palm facing

you so that you can read off of it right under your spectator's nose. I have gotten

away with this (I wrote a simplified version on my hand), by holding my hand so

they wouldn't notice it. If they're not looking for it, they won't bother you about it.

Test yourself. CAR and CUP are some easy ones I've had. Some letters are harder

then most, but by having them think of something they can visualize, and/or

something short, (3 or 4 letters) you're getting rid of most possible errors.

Here is the crib sheet I write on my hand. The bigger letters are more common

then the smaller ones, some of the more obscure letters are left out (left to

common sense, e.g. If you're looking at something like Rebra or Lebra, you might

think it could be Zebra instead), and the locations are mirrored, but the letters are

not. Have a look:

This little table has served me very, very well for short words. Get your spectator

to think of a short/simple/common noun, something that they can see, and then

run along through the table. You have the perfect way to look at the sheet, too,

because it's written on the palm that's facing you due to your little window. It

covers almost all of the letter starting/ending discrepancies I've noticed. If you use

anything, I would recommend this crib sheet the highest.

NumbersIf you're not satisfied with just even digits, and want to try something more

ambitious, like a PIN number revelation, you're going to want to perform it with

starting and ending. If you can help it though, just sticking to the endings is a bit

easier to keep track of. That said, here are the full number tables, both normal

and mirrored:

Starting out I also used a crib for this. On my cribs I always leave out any empty

rows, I write the locations mirrored, but I write the numbers/letters un-mirrored,

and I also never put in the dots, they're only there to help you understand the

system going into it. When I use the number crib, sometimes I leave the empty

row, so that if someone does catch it on my hand, I can just say I was playing a

sudoku game against myself. :)

As you can see, 6 and 5 start and end in roughly the same positions, with 6

generally being a little above 5. Also, 0 and 8 can be hard to tell apart, as they

both start and end at roughly the same point. An fair way to tell them apart is that

8 usually starts/ends in a corner or in the center. If it's in the center it's an

automatic 8. I write so that it ends in the center, and messing around with

different participants I've found that sometimes this does happen. The rest of the

digits are pretty easy to tell apart, so you can now get someone's PIN number of

phone number. Additionally, I often use this for months of the year or days/times.

Birthdays and birth years are now simple to gain access to. Sometimes I ask if it

isn't an even digit is it?, which can help you by letting you only look at the end

of their number sometimes to make it a bit simpler on you and them. I honestly

use this one more then I perform with words, because it's a bit more surefire. I've

gotten my hit rate with words up to about 80-85%, but with numbers it's generally

90-95%, so I tend to use them more. Book tests, PK time routines, converting their

number to a letter and then Elephants in Denmarking it are all possible and fun

ways to use numbers. Plus it's a lot easier to remember then letters, and in a

pinch you can always just run through each number to find the right one fairly

quickly. Of course it is a lot more impressive to reveal a thought of word, but the

debate could go on... Now to zodiac signs.

Zodiac SignsWouldn't it be fun to tell someone their zodiac sign without fishing? If you carry

around a convenient little card you'll see just how easy this is to do. First, get

yourself a double blank business/index card, and write 6 zodiac signs on each

side. Here is a table of the symbols:

As you can see, the table won't be that hard

to memorize. But to make it even easier for

yourself, you have the card, and the fact

that 6 symbols are written on each side

(this subtlety came from Paul Carnazzo's

wonderful ESP cards). You ask them to find

their symbol on the card, then place it on

the table, and then draw their symbol in the

air, while you look away. The card is convenient to them because they can see the

symbol to figure out how to draw it. It's convenient to you because it acts as a

mini crib sheet in itself, and narrows down their symbol to two.

Alternatively, you can ask how many letters it is. If you choose to use letters, I

recommend putting Aries (5), Taurus (6), Sagittarius (11), Cancer (6), Libra (5) and

Aquarius (8) on one side, and Gemini (6), Leo (3), Virgo (5), Scorpio (7), Capricorn

(9), and Pisces (6) on the other side. This way the only ones you have to tell

between are Aries/Libra, or Taurus/Cancer, on the first side, and Gemini/Pisces on

the other side. Thus, you will ask them to write the first letter in the air, if the

number of letters is 5, and the 3rd letter if the number of letters is 6. All of the

other times you will instantly know their sign.

If you don't want to ask how many letters it is, you can just ask them to write the

first letter in the air. C, A, L, T, S, P, and V are all distinct letters from each other. If

it's a C, however, you should follow it up with asking them to write the 3rd letter. N,

M, and P are very distinct. In fact, you can just ask them to hold the end position if

it's one of N, M and P, they are so distinct, you don't need the starting position.

Or, if it's an A, you can go for the second letter. You can easily perform this

method with nothing but your mind, you won't need a card if you're doing the

letters. Out of the three ways, this method is my preferred for getting their sign.

It's simple astounding, impromptu, and gaff-less.

Additionally, you can give them a card with all of the signs numbered from 1 to

12, and then have them write their number in the air (you won't have a 0 so 8

won't be a problem), but as I said above, I really like the 1-2 letter method.

Using this as a branching technique, you can easily use it for other things, such as

states, countries, animals, months, just by having your spectator write a few

letters in the air, no fishing. The beauty of working with a limited range of choices

is that you can easily select sets of letters that have no overlap (e.g. no R/L/E

guessing), you don't need to ask for every letter, and you can always ask for

another letter to make sure if you're a little unsure.

Book TestsBook tests. I'm sure your head is already spinning over the many possibilities. Just

like with the zodiac revelation, there are many, many ways to accomplish the

same thing. Using just Mene, Mene, Dekel, you can ask your spectator to think of

a number with two even digits (from 1 to 100), write it in the air, and then have

them flip to that page, and look at the first word(s). I have done this and it plays

very big. It's easy to do, you just need to memorize 16 words from the pages 22,

24, 26 28, 42 44, 46, 48, 62, 64, 66, 68, 82, 84, 86, and 88. It seems like a very

free choice that uses about 50 numbers (even digits seem like an even number),

but in reality there's just 16. Memorize those or make a crib of them. You can hide

the crib sheet and peek at it, or you can write it on your hand, a 4 x 4 grid. As

they write the number, just look at the end points, and then look at the crib on

your left palm. The rest is simple. You can do equivoque to choose a book, put

different covers on identical books, or memorize 2+ sets of words, or just make a

mini-crib sheet to peek at.

Another way, is to ask your spectator to flip any book open to any page and look

at a short word, let's say two or three letters long, something plain. You could

also extend it by saying three or four letters, but two or three tends to be the

easiest to keep track of if you have the choice. Here are the most common two,

three, and four letter words:

of, to, in, is, it, be, as, at

the, and, for, are, but, not, you, all

that, with, have, this, will, your, from, they

Make up a quick crib list on your hand, and have them write the letters in the air.

It will be short and simple, and even if their word isn't on the list chances are very

high that you will get it. Don't ask how many letters their word is; if it's a word like

of, to, at, or in, it will be obvious that that's the end of the word. If it's something

like your or and, however, you can just ask there's not another letter, is there?

The crib list just makes it easier for you to keep track of. The beauty of this is that

they can choose any book and any page, and what they will probably remember

as a free choice of word, and yet you don't need to fish at all for letters.

Another book test, and probably one of my favorites, involves performing a force

of a page number. I generally use Hoy's book test, you should already know this

one as a mentalist, it's invaluable as an impromptu book test. This basically

makes the Hoy book test seems far more powerful. You are going to choose a

page that doesn't seem to have a lot of long words in it. You can choose pretty

much any page from the middle with the Hoy book test, so take your time and

choose one with few words of 7 letters or less. Now you can force the page quickly

and fairly, and then ask them to look at a really hearty word with a lot of letters,

let's say, 8 letters or more. You can have a crib (if you need one) with these

words written on your hand. You simply select one letter, such as the first letter in

the word, that's very distinct in all of the words, and then have them write that

letter in the air while you close your eyes. If the first letter is not enough, you can

go on to the second letter. Also note, in many cases, there will be less then 10

words of 8 letters or more on the page if you look for the right page, and then you

can carefully choose a letter and only look at the end of the letter instead of the

beginning as well. Additionally, even if you choose a word that requires that you

sometimes look at the second or third letter, many times with this additional letter

you can just look at the end. This adds another level of secrecy to the effect.

Also, if you happen to have a MOABT (Mother Of All Book Tests), you might find

that the Air Writer (with just one letter, as I just described), will work very well in

conjunction with it. I don't own any form of MOABT so I'm not sure, but I think it

would work very well.

CardsCards are also quite simple, just like zodiac signs. We have Ace, Two, Three, Four,

Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, and King. Ask your spectator to

think of a playing card. If you like, you can make your job a little simpler by just

asking them to think of a number between 1 and 10, and then add a suit to that. If

you choose not to, the just make sure to ask if its a number or not. Then proceed

to either the digit system, or ask for the last letter if its a court card. You can have

a mini crib sheet if you want: two rows for the numbers, and just memorize the

court cards. The number 10 is the only exception, it will generally start and end at

top; the start in your top rightish and the end in the top leftish, a bit like the letter

U, just with the ends squished closer to the center.

The suits are equally easy, Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds. You have all of

the first letters at your convenience. You can play around with which letters work

best for you, and set it up so you only need the ends of the letters (albeit

sometimes you might need two letters to get this to work). You can now reveal the

card, or use it in a bigger effect, such as an ACAAN. I'd never really recommend

just performing the effect by itself, I almost always combine it in a larger routine.

Think of something like a Mind Power deck, for instance. You can have them look

at a card, write one letter in the air, show them that their card is not in the deck,

and then reveal that they're card was in your pocket from the start with no fishing.

Drawing DuplicationsAs Banachek noted in his book, Psychological Subtleties, when put on the spot,

most people will draw one of these items:

A House

A Flower

A Person or a Smiley Face

A Tree

A Car

and one that I feel needs to be added: A Boat. This is simply because most

people can't (or think they can't) draw something like an animal or a non stick

figure, plus it would be embarrassing if their drawing came out poorly.

What I've done with this is have someone draw an noun, something that you can

see often on a billet, and then ask them to think of how they're object is spelled

saying so if you're drawing is of a face, think F-A-C-E. If it's of a Person, or a

Human, then think P-E-R-S-O-N, or a Boat, then think B-O-A-T, etc.

This covers the cases when someone might think Smiley Face, or Sailboat, or Man,

instead of simpler words. Then I simply have them draw the first letter. H/F, P, T,

C, and B, are all easy to get at, and if its an H/F, you can just ask them to draw of

the second letter, or the last one, and only look at the end of the letter.

All that remains is to draw the object, based on their first letter, and write the

name of the object below it. If it is a different letter then one of these, I do one

of two things. If it seems like something simple, I often guess. Otherwise, you can

just peek the billet and proceed to draw it yourself. Or... You could have them

write the entire word in the air. Even if they thought of something not quite like

what you had, most of the time, because you wrote it's name, you will get credit

for getting the right first letter.

There are many ways to accomplish this, as with everything, but by using the Air

Writer as an alternative to fishing, you increase your hit rate considerably above

any random word that they could think of.

StatesWhen I performed this, I used a full fledged crib sheet, not just the notes on the

hand thing, and I also had a list of the states, with the fourth letters circled. How

do I hide this? When I was performing this routine, I sat at a table, and had the

sheet in my lap. I just brought my hand to my forehead to think and looked down

under that cover. It's quite easy actually, you just need the first letter, and

sometimes the fourth letter. The fourth works the best. So get yourself a real crib

sheet, because some of these letters are obscure, and a list of the states. Many

times you can get away with only the end of the fourth letter, and sometimes you

won't even need the fourth letter, such as with states like Utah or Georgia.

This can play very, very big, if you combine it with a larger routine. If you have a

52 card index (or can make one, from the CardSource System) then you can make

up cards with the states on them, put the 50 cards in the indexes, have a card on

the table, find the state, and then switch it out with the one in your pocket.

If you can memorize the states (or already have them memorized), then this is

even easier and harder hitting; you can do it standing up with nothing but an

index, and hold the card (with a state such as California on it) in your hand. Then,

when you hear the first letter, run through the states until you get to that letter,

locate the few states, and decide whether or not you need the fourth letter or not.

You can write a more detailed crib list on your hand, and be ready to go. I can't

overstate (pun intended) how well this plays.

ESP SymbolsThis should be second nature to you. You show your spectators the five ESP

symbols, and then have a spectator (or three) think of one. Call your spectator(s)

up, and ask them to draw their symbol in the air while you turn around so that the

rest of the audience can see what it is. They do so, and then you proceed to read

their mind. Personally what I like to do is get one spectator up on stage to do this.

On a table nearby I have a small envelope with an index card in it. This envelope

can have either a window (which I prefer) in the back, or carbon paper (in which

case you need a dull ended TT). I note to them that this is my prediction. I have a

TT in my pocket. I then run through the process, and then pick up the small

envelope, slip on the TT, and draw the symbol. Then I open the envelope, slide out

the card, and show the prediction. Here's a map for each of the symbols. It's

mirrored so you can make a crib if you like or just memorize it and then you're

ready to go. You can also do it with just the end of the symbol.

Routines by Timon KrauseWhen I spent some more time thinking about The Airwriter I came up with some

more lice little ideas for routines that you might enjoy.

Routine 1: Restaurant:

Imagine this youre sitting in a restaurant with your date/mum/friends and are

just about ready to order. Wait, you say. I want to try something out. Draw the

number of your dish into the frame formed by my fingers here. I will look away.

Once youre done Ill try and read your mind. they do so. You use The

Airwriter to find the number of their dish, then check the card and find what dish

it is that they chose. As soon as the waiter comes to take your order youre able to

tell here what you and your companion want and hopefully your companion will

be awed by your powers!

Routine 2: ACAAN-Variation:

They pick a card. Shuffle the deck. Write a number into the air and their card

appears at that thought off number. As Im not a card guy I wont teach you any

flash moves right here as to how to bring the card to the thought off number. Ill

describe to you how I do it which is bold and not very elegant, but works

anyways: Have your spectator pick a card and put it on the bottom of the stack

youll have to remember the bottom card before the effect to use it as a key card.

Then ask your spectator to write a number of two even digits from 1 52 into the

air. Use The Aiwriter to find their number. Go through the deck, find their card

( using the key card ), then just count as many cards on top as it takes to bring

their card to their thought off number. Then let them count cards off until they

arrive at their number.

Routine 3: Chemical Knowledge:

The Airwriter is very easy to perform in conjunction with a Periodic Table of

Elements ( chemical ). The Elements are written in short with about 1 or 2 letters

which will enable you to perform this effect very fast. Ask your spectator to

choose one of the elements from the table and write the initials into the air.

As no one ever sees through the table of elements ( apart from those chemists

;D ) this will make the choice seem broad and complicated to read their mind

from. However, itll be hard to find a real good presentation for this. I thought Id

let you know about this anyways who knows, you might one day find yourself

performing for a chemistry class. (Note from Bill:) If you know the effect Stigmata,

by Wayne Houcin, this would be the perfect time to use it. :)

Routine 4: Magic Square:

Well, the title will tell you most of it. Ask your spectator to write a number into the

air ( with two even digits if possible ) you then read his mind and make a magic

square of it. You might however want to have him write the number down for

verification so they dont cheat.

Notes by Timon KrauseWhen DekEl sent me his Mindcraft: Psionics book to review I was truly intrigued by

the idea of Mene, Mene, Dekel. I believe all of us were. So I gave it some thought

and had some conversation with Bill and ended up writing some additional notes

for this particular effect. However, we both felt that there was something we

hadnt figured out yet something that just escaped our hands whenever we tried

to catch it. Well, one afternoon I was sitting around, thinking ( as you do ) when I

came up with the idea presented to you in this book. If letters have ending points,

they obviously have starting points, too. So why not see if I could do the MMD

effect with looking at where a letter starts? It would make the whole process a bit

cleaner again, and by having them write the word as fast as possible there would

be a perfect reason as to why theyd have to have their finger on the starting

point while Im still looking. Usually, I wave my hand really fast in front of their

face to demonstrate the afterimage Im talking about.

DekEl did a great job at expanding on my idea ( which expanded on his idea ) and

figuring out practical routines for them. I wont bother describing everything that

DekEl described again but instead inform you about some of the additional

touches to make this effect maybe just a little bit stronger.

Looking away:

As I mentioned in my notes for MMD already I often had spectators suspecting

that I was watching out of the corner of my eye what they wrote although I

actually turned away far enough and didnt see anything. Thats why I now

instead opt for keeping turned towards them but to have my eyes closed.

In general, if you dont need to see what the spectator does and want to convince

the spectator that you cant see anything just close your eyes. Its so much more

convincing than a blindfold, I never had a spectator suspect me of having see-

through eyelids. Personally I found that this effect is made a bit stronger by just

closing your eyes.

Practicing:

Heres a list I made up for you to practice this effect with a little bit of security. Ill

explain to you how to use it in a moment. First the list:

- NAMES

- WATER

- PUDGY

- DISCS

- TROLL

- WHITE

This list includes words which, spread over all of them, include all of the blue

letters in DekEls diagram. Also, I tried to make an effort so that each word would

be made up of mostly blue letters.

If you just started learning The Airwriter youll find this list very useful. Instead

of giving the spectator a totally free choice of word, give him the choice of a word

from the list. Of course, this isnt near as amazing as the normal Airwriter but

until you feel comfortable to have the spectator choose any word you can use this

list to get used to the blue letters. Obviously, if you know the list youll latest

after two letters will know what word the spectator is about to write.

Obviously, as always, be careful to instruct the spectator to write in capitals!

Additional ideas:

- Use this principle with Ben Harris Silent Running procedure. Instead of

doing all the fishing, have them write their number into the air and reveal

their card.

- Use this in a psychic reading have them write their problem or the name

of a passed away person or someone close to them into the air. Then

consult the spirit world and reveal their thoughts. A very nice premise is

that while closing your normal eyes you open your third eye to see what

theyre writing.

- Use this for a booktest theyll be able to choose any word, any page, any

book. You determine the word.

- After you know what word they are about to write, say Alright, were going

to make this a little bit harder for me. Ill take my frame away and turn

around, you draw the next letter and then wipe over it. Ill try and still see

the after image. Do so, it works quite well.

I really feel that DekEl got most out of the potential of this technique and although

I provided the extended idea he did creative and good work on writing the

instructions and creating routines.

After I saw DekEls work on this idea I felt like thats what we were looking for

when we first started on working on additional ideas for Mene, Mene, Dekel. We

definitely took this idea further than we first thought and created a great routine.

Most of this resulted out of just thinking about the principle and performing over

and over again until maybe something else would come to mind to include.

Thanks to DekEl for his great work and the interesting conversations we had this

shows how far two people can take something were one person maybe has a

temporary block.

I am sure you enjoyed The Airwriter. timon@ictc.biz my email address in case

of any questions.

All the best,

Timon.

Justification by Steven KeylAfter spec #1 has been chosen I turn to someone next to them and say "Just to

make sure that they don't forget or have a change of heart, I need you to know

the number in their mind. Instead of whispering it, I'll turn around and you (spec

#1) write it in the air large enough and clear enough that they can see it..." etc.

Of course, at that point you include instructions for the MMD technique (or the Air

Writer technique if it is different) and go from there.

This serves two useful purposes. First, it provides a rational justification for

writing in the air. Second, anyone else around them is going to really focus on

figuring out the number as well and will pay NO attention to the performer or

what they are looking for.

Bill's notes on this:

I LOVE this justification and makes the effect far stronger, in my opinion. This also

makes it easy to perform with a group of spectators. Instead of just using two

spectators, however, you could say that they should write it large enough for the

whole group to see.

ConclusionBefore I end, I want to give credit where credit is due. While I did come up with

the letter maps, writing in the air, and looking at where each letter ends, I did

not come up with looking at where the letters start. I am quite sure that I would

never have thought of this if it weren't for Timon Krause. Timon received a

MindCraft: Psionics review copy and really liked Mene, Mene, Dekel, as every

single one of the reviewers. I wasn't satisfied, however, with just even digits. I

wanted it to work with all of the numbers, but more importantly, I wanted it to

work with letters. Timon and I worked towards this goal, using the technique to

fish for names/words from a selection, but I couldn't come up with something that

worked reliably for letters. I set up fishing techniques, similar letters, guessing

techniques, all to no avail. Then Timon brought to my attention the simplest yet

most logical option: looking at where the letters start. I quickly got the percentage

rate up to about 85% from there. The Air Writer method allows you to entirely

bypass progressive anagrams in a much simpler and less transparent way.

In regards to the effects themselves, probably my favorite to perform is the zodiac

sign revelation. It's simple and personal, in most cases it only uses the technique

once and in a surefire way, there's not much to keep track of, and it ends

powerfully. I hope that you enjoy all of the routines.

- DekEl