The magic session

UNDERGROUnD NOTES #4
themagicsession
 The Tweezers
By Chad Long
Effect

The magician removes the two jokers. Before he discards them,

he says that he will use them to locate the four aces. Inserting one
of the jokers halfway into the upper portion of the pack and the
other into the lower portion, he plucks an ace in tweezers fashion
from the pack. He repeats this action, one going high in the pack
and the other going low. Another ace is tweezed from the pack in
a similar manner. Rubbing the two jokers together, they change to
the remaining aces.

Explanation

I am going to explain the routine with full embellishments- including starting from a shuffled
pack. I will note where the sleights are optional. If you wish to eliminate the sleights and preset
the desired starting position, you can.

Optional Opening Culls. Take a shuffled deck that contains the jokers and spread it face up from
the your left hand to your right. As you come to the aces, cull them beneath the spread. As you
come to the jokers, upjog them. By the time you reach the back of the spread, the jokers are
upjogged and the aces are at the back (top) of the pack. Strip the jokers from the pack with your
right hand and turn the pack face down with your left. Drop the jokers face up on top of the pack.

Again spread the pack from your left hand to the right. When you come to the third or fourth ace,
cull it underneath the spread. Continue spreading the pack until the middle where you reinsert
the culled ace. Pick up a little finger break beneath it. Now, use the same little finger to kick the
culled ace out the back of the pack, injogged for about the width of the card’s border.

Status Report. You have the two jokers face up on top of the pack, followed by three face down
aces. The fourth ace is slightly injogged halfway down in the pack. This is your official starting
position.

The First Ace. Spread over the top few cards of the pack, picking up a break beneath the first face
down ace. Square the pack as you pick up the top three cards from above in the right hand. Use
your left thumb to drag the uppermost face up joker over to the left and flip it face down on top of
the pack. Drop the two cards remaining in your right hand, as one, onto the top of the pack. Flip
the single face up joker face down on top of the pack, having secretly sandwiched an ace between
the two face down jokers.

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Take the top two cards from the front of the pack with the right thumb on the top (back) and
fingers on the face. Insert the lowermost card of the pair, the ace, into the pack about a third of
the way down from the top of the pack. Take the next card, the joker, and insert it about a third
of the way up from the bottom of the pack. As you insert this second card, use your right thumb
to kick the uppermost card slightly to the left. This will allow you to lift the pack up and flash the
face (s) of the cards. The ace is hidden behind the outjogged joker.

Hold the deck vertically in your left hand with the outjogged
pair toward the ceiling. Bring your right hand over from above.
You are apparently going to remove the two outjogged cards by
pulling them straight up. In the process, extend your right thumb
downward so that you can pull the top card of the pack, the other
joker, straight up (Fig. 1). Do not lift the outjogged cards until the
top card is flush with the other two outjogged cards.

Now, with your right fingers on the face of the upjogged three
cards and the right thumb on the back, pull upward. The two jokers
are pulled up until they clear the pack. The middle card, the ace,
doesn’t move. As soon as the jokers have cleared the pack, apply
more pressure with your right hand, pinching the ace between the
two jokers. Continue pulling the jokers upward, but now the ace
moves with them (Fig. 2). Spread the jokers slightly as shown in the
illustration as you remove the ace.

The Second Ace. Use your right hand and the two jokers to flip the
first ace face up onto the table or the spectator’s hand. Drop the
jokers onto the deck face up to allow you to reposition them. Take
them at the far end of the pack as you first took the two jokers, only
this time they are face up. Insert the first one about a fourth of the
way down from the top. Insert the other one about a fourth of the
way up from the bottom of the pack. Both jokers go face up.

Lift the pack up to the tips of the left thumb and fingers. You are
now going to use an Eric Mason move from Pabular that was also
the inspiration for Ken Krenzel’s “On The Up And Up”. As you pass
your right hand over the deck, use your left little finger to drag the
near right corner of the injogged ace around the near right corner
of the pack. Holding the pack firmly near the far end between the
left thumb and second finger, drag the card away from you toward
the audience. It only has to move forward about half an inch (Fig. 3).

Note that the right hand covers the left little finger’s movement. You can also cover the moving
ace by angle-jogging the uppermost joker slightly to the left. Since the moving ace emerges angled

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slightly to the left, the angling of the uppermost joker provides the
perfect camouflage.

Bring your right thumb and second finger over to the left edge of
the pack and pinch the cards at the point where the jokers and
ace are emerging from the pack. Push the outjogged cards to the
right, causing them to pivot around the left second finger on the
right long edge of the pack (Fig. 4). Continue applying the pressure,
stripping the jokers and the ace out of the pack (Fig. 5).

Do not expose the face of the sandwiched card yet. As you display
the face down card outjogged and sandwiched between the two
face up jokers, obtain a left little finger break beneath the top two
face down aces.

The Final Aces. You are now going to execute a move that switches
the aces for the jokers. Bring the jokers over to cover the deck
which the left hand tilts up on its right long edge. Open the break
by opening the left little finger (Fig. 6). The aces pivot out face
up under cover of the face up jokers where they are added to the
back of the jokers. (See the Background section following the trick
description for more information on this move.)

Flip the whole five-card packet over onto the deck (Fig. 7). It
appears as though you simply flipped the three card packet, the two
face up jokers and the outjogged ace, over onto the deck to show
the face of the ace. Actually, you have secretly added two aces to the
top of the resulting conglomeration.

Place your right forefinger on the back of the outjogged ace and
your right thumb on the top card of the pack (joker). Pull forward
on these two cards, stripping the ace from its position, fourth from
the top of the pack (Fig. 8). The audience thinks you are simply
removing the top two cards, the face down joker and the face up
ace.

As soon as the “joker” and ace are free from the pack, you
apparently realize that you accidentally left a “joker” on top of
the pack. Bring your right hand back to the pack and add the new
top card of the pack to the bottom of the cards in the right hand,
completing the sandwich (Fig. 9).

Bring the right hand’s cards forward and allow the ace to slip free

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from the “jokers”. Pause for the response. Pause, while they jump
ahead in their minds. They will expect you to insert the two face
down cards into the pack for the next ace. Instead, and without
coming back to the pack, rub the “jokers” together in the right hand.
Finish by slowly turning the right hand’s cards face up, showing the
last two aces. (The idea of changing the jokers to the aces without
returning to the pack is Paul Cummins’. At one time, Chad struck the
two “jokers” back in the pack and then changed them back to aces.)

Background. The add-on move used to switch the jokers for the
aces is normally performed as a switch. The references for this
move are dizzying. If the printed word is an accurate reflection of
history, the following had work on the move: Charles Jordan, Bill
Simon, Ed Marlo, John Mendoza, Doug Edwards, Chris Kenner and
John Carney. Only the last variation can’t be used because the near
edges of the packet are tapped on the table, something that would
be out of place when trying to retain the outjogged nature of the
sandwiched card.

In Effortless Card Magic, you’ll see a similar effect called “Return to

St. Nicholas” and “Girdwood Meets St. Nicholas.”

About Chad Long

Chad Long has performed & lectured all over the world. He’s worked professionally in bars,
nightclubs, restaurants, private parties, corporate functions, trade shows and cruise-ships. For
more of Chad’s great magic including his best-seller “FLASH” visit: http://chadlongmagic.com

themagicsession
Stardust Transposition and Cosmic Fusion
By Kostya Kimlat
Effect

Two selected cards materialize and visually transpose in the spectator’s hands, then merge into
one card, with a face on each side.

Setup

From the top of the face down deck, place the cards in the following order:
• King of Hearts
• A double-faced card (say 8S/KH, king side facing downwards)
• Eight of Spades
• The rest of the deck

Stardust Transposition

Catch a break below the top two cards with your right thumb, then
undercut the bottom half of the deck with the left hand and place it on top,
transferring the break to your left pinkie. Execute a Riffle Force, lifting up
the cards above the break and ask the spectator to remember the bottom
card (the king) of the right hand’s pile.

As you show the card in the right hand, slightly push off the top card of the
left hand’s pile and get a little pinkie below it. (Fig.40) Replace the right
hand’s cards onto the left, maintaining the break. Execute another riffle
force; this time to show the participants the eight. Bring the two halves
together, keeping a pinkie break between them. Riffle the outer end of the
deck. Then, riffle the inner end: start at the little pinkie break, riffle off the
three cards of the stack, re-insert the pinkie into that break and then finish
riffling the back of the deck.

Cut at the break, bringing the three-card stack back to the top.
Perform a double turnover, showing the first selection (king) has
jumped to the top. Leave this double face-up.

Ask the participants to keep their eyes on the deck and ask them
to name the second selection. Immediately upon receiving a reply,
perform Lennart Green’s Top Shot to cause the double facer to
fly from the deck and into your right hand; turning over in the

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process. (Fig.41 ) (Green Magic, Vol.1) In the spectators’ eyes, the King of Hearts will still be on
top of the deck, while your right hand will be holding the eight. This is unbelievably deceptive and
will make your audience’s eyes momentarily pop out!

Push off the king from the top of the deck and take it with
the right hand underneath the double facer. Ask one of the
spectators to extend her hand palm-up. Take the two cards
in the right hand and turn them over book-page fashion,
letting them fall onto the deck. (Fig.42) The cards don’t need
to be aligned; they will align automatically as they are turned
over. (This was originally discovered and published by Herb
Zarrow.) The King of Hearts will now be on top, face-down,
followed by the double facer, king-side up. Immediately push
off the top card using the left thumb, take it with the right
hand, and place it onto the spectator’s open palm and ask
them to hang onto the eight.

While the turning over of the two cards is discrepant, it is completely deceptive and will fly in all
working conditions, as well as the more leisurely ones. Moreover, the clean and
honest display will convince the spectators that the card in her hand is truly the eight. With the
king openly sitting on the deck, there is no way they can doubt that fact.

Execute another Top Shot. The king will vanish and the eight will appear in your hand. If
the spectator is holding the card in-between her outstretched palms, execute the Top Shot
underneath her hands. The change looks more mysterious and the turning over of the double
facer is less likely to be seen.

At this point, you can finish the routine by executing a Top Change with the top card of the
deck. This will leave the double facer on the top of the deck and the two normal cards in play.
You can turn the deck face- up and do a bottom palm, retaining the double facer and slipping
it surreptitiously into your pocket at a later date and time. Or, you can continue the fun and
mayhem by diving directly into the second phase: Cosmic Fusion.

Cosmic Fusion

The current situation is that spectators are staring wildly at each other and picking their jaws up
off of the floor. On top of the deck sits an eight face down. In your hand is a double facer, eight-
side up. The spectator is holding the king.

Using the left hand, catch a pinkie break below the eight on top of the deck. Place the double facer
on top of the deck, eight side up and take the king from the participant and place it on top of the
double facer, face-up. You can keep the top few cards of the deck spread as you reach into your
pocket to take out a marker pen. Just make sure that you maintain your pinkie break.

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 Hand the marker to the person who chose the eight and ask him to
sign his name on his card. As you ask him to do this, pick up all three
cards with your right hand in Biddle grip. Using your left thumb, slip
the king onto the deck (Fig.43) and then replace the other two cards
on top, keeping a pinkie break between the top two cards and the
king. Move your hand forward to have the eight signed, and once the
spectator has finished, bring it back towards yourself and blow on the
signature.

You are now going to make it look like you’ve turned the signed eight
face-down and dropped it down onto the table. What you are really
going to do is execute the motions of the Paul Harris’ Flip-Flop Change
(Art of Astonishment), switching the signed double facer for the regular, unsigned eight. To do so,
pinch the top two cards as one using your right fingers, then drag the two cards over, exposing
the king. (Fig.44) All looks fair. Drag the double to the very edge of the
deck, just as if you were doing a Double Turnover, however, once the
left edge of the double reaches the very right edge of the deck, it will
be resting on your left fingertips. Whereas in a regular Turnover, you
would now allow the double to fall onto the deck, here instead you are
going to let the deck fall onto the double. Simply turn your left wrist
downwards and allow the entire deck to turn face-up directly onto the
double still being pinched by your right hand. As the deck falls, your
right thumb releases the pinch grip so that the deck can fall freely.

As the deck turns over, your left hand takes control and your right hand gets out of the way. The
deck is held entirely by the left hand, palm-down. Using your left thumb, contact the bottom card
of the deck (the regular eight) and push the card forward, dropping it either onto the table or into
your now empty right hand: a face down card will emerge. (Fig.45) Immediately your left hand
turns back palm-up and wham - there is a clean king staring the spectators right in their eyes! All
still looks just as it should.

This entire switch process takes about two seconds. During the switch you
should look at the first spectator and ask him to pass the marker to the second
person. You now immediately turn towards the second person and ask her
to sign the king. The move shouldn’t be done quickly; otherwise it will raise
suspicion. If you do happen to see a hint of suspicion in anyone’s eyes during
the switching action, you can add a little convincer afterwards: hold the
supposedly signed eight in your right hand such that your palm will cover
most of its face when turned face-up, specifically where the signature should
be. Now, you can casually flash the face (or just indeces) of the card as you
gesture at the spectators. Don’t make it like a Mardi Gras flash and rub it in
their face or they’ll get more suspicious; they might even catch that there’s no
signature. Instead, one subtle flash will do.

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Have the king signed and bring the deck towards your face to
blow on the signature. As you do so, catch a pinky break below
the top two cards. To do this, you can use your pinky to slip into
the natural break formed below the second card, or (and this is
my preferred method) you can pick up the double with your left
thumb at the left edge of the deck and then catch a pinky break.
Bring the deck back down and with your right hand - which is
holding the face-down eight, towards the deck - you are going to
execute almost a Vernon-Annemann-Christ Alignment Move with
the cards on top of the deck.

Your right hand holds the face down eight. As it comes over onto the
deck, the left thumb pulls the top card of the deck to the left, causing
it to angle. A face-up King will be exposed underneath it, but it will be
covered by the eight held in the right hand. (Fig. 46) Your right hand
takes the double facer out from underneath the top card and takes it
away. (Fig.47)

Situation check: the right hand is holding the now duly-signed double
facer, king-side up. On top of the deck is a face-down eight, followed by
a face-up king. Your left hand still holds a pinky break below these two
cards, which happen to be playing the role of an impromptu double
backer. Life is good.

Use the double facer to enter into the break. (Fig.48) With your left
thumb, pinch the top two cards. If you move your right hand away,
you will now be pinching three cards: the double facer and the two
clean duplicates, sandwiched together and aligned face-to-face. You
can now turn your right hand palm-up and palm-down, casually
flashing the signed faces of the two cards. This is yet another
discrepancy in this routine that will fly by smoothly.

As you do the casual turnover, ask the two spectators to each extend
one hand, palm-up. I make this gesture using both hands, turning
my right hand palm towards me in the process, thereby flashing the
other side of the double facer. The flashing of the double facer is
therefore not contrived and seems justified.

Look at one of the spectators and ask, “Actually, can you turn your hand palm-down, please?” As
you say that, your right hand replaces its cards onto the deck (palm-down) so that the impromptu
double backer can be replaced onto the deck, while the double facer remains spread to the right.
As the spectators follow your directions, the right hand comes back towards the deck, miming the
action of aligning and picking up the two cards. In reality, it only picks up the double facer. Now

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you can casually flash both sides as you say, “We’ll place the cards back to back and I’m going
to have you hang on to them.” Place the double facer into the palm-up hand, acting like you are
being careful to keep the two cards together. Have the other spectator place her hand on top and
ask them both to, “Keep still and just feel the energy” or to, “Hang on tight and feel the strong
animalistic bond between yourselves,” or whatever it is you wish to make of this moment.

Now take a step back and build on this moment. Build on it in whichever way you feel works best
with your persona, or, better yet, works best for the two spectators. Depending on how they’ve
been reacting to the routine so far, they might look at their two cards somehow bonded together
and scream and run for their lives; others will stare at you with intrigue, Blaine-style; some might
just toss it away to continue their conversation.

Credits

• Several magicians have independently thought of combining the Top Shot with a double facer.
However, Lennart was already ahead of us with the creation of his Ninja Move.

• The Anniversary Waltz plot is credited to Chris Carter who published it in his One-Man Parade
in Linking Ring magazine (September 1990). It was modified and popularized by Doc Eason.

About Kostya Kimlat

Kostya is one of most creative forces in close-up magic. He spends half

of the year traveling to convention centers, theaters and hotels around
the world, performing at corporate functions, speaking at meetings, and
entertaining at high-end private events. The rest of the year he makes his
home in Downtown Orlando, where I get to astound locals and visitors
alike, performing for repeat clientele at select, local venues.

For more of Kostya’s great magic visit: www.kostyamagic.com

themagicsession
 Shocked
By Michael “Six” Muldoon
Effect

A chosen card reverses itself in the deck several times. At the

end, every card in the deck changes into the selected card.

Setup

Obtain one-way deck of cards and add one indifferent card. Assume the deck is comprised of all
Sixes of Clubs; Michael emphasizes that the indifferent card should contrast with your forcing
deck. He uses the Nine of Hearts.

Place the Nine of Hearts on the face of the deck, and then place one of the Six of Clubs reversed on
the face of all. Reverse another Six of Clubs approximately fifteen cards from the face of the deck.

Performance

Spread the pack for a selection, taking care not to spread too close to the face of the deck, where
you might expose either of the two reverse Sixes of Clubs. Allow the spectator to remove her card
from the pack.

Square the deck and insert the spectator’s card face down near the bottom of the pack. Hold the
deck in right-hand end grip and raise the pack to chest height, keeping the face (and the reversed
Six on the bottom) toward yourself.

Regrip the pack at chest height so you can spread it between your hands to display the backs of
the cards. With your left thumb, spread over the first few cards on the face in a block to conceal
the reversed cards.

After spreading approximately fifteen cards, the spectator will notice her selection, now reversed
in the spread. Upjog this card and take hold of the pack at chest height, in left-hand dealers’ grip.
Now swivel the reversed Six from the pack with your right hand and display the card between
your right fingers. At the same time move your left hand to your side, keeping the face ( with the
reversed card ) out of audience view. Michael does this by resting the pack against his side.

Place the right hand’s Six face up on the face of the deck. Once again, you must do this without
flashing the reversed Six on the face. To do this, the hands work together with the cards held
toward the body. Only the right hand’s Six of clubs is squarely on top of the reversed card should
you lower the left hand.

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Apparently pick up the displayed selection and insert it halfway in to the pack. Actually, pick up
a double in right-hand end grip and insert both cards, as one, into the middle of the deck. The
double is comprised of two back-to-back Sixes of Clubs. When you lift the double from the face of
the pack, the Nine of Hearts shows, reinforcing the packs legitimacy.

You must now perform the revolution change. Holding

the pack at waist height in left-hand dealers’ grip, move
your right-hand palm down above the pack. Spread the
right fingers and apparently wave them over the outjogged
selection. Secretly, touch the base of the right fingers to the
extended edge of the double card. At the same time, extend
your left first finger under the double and apply light
pressure. (Photo 1, exposed view)

In a waving action, move the right hand forward, sliding the

uppermost card of the double from the pack and against
the right palm (Photo 2, exposed view). The card is pinned
into place by the pressure the left first finger exerts on the
lower card of the double. The card is never palmed, but
rather held against the palm. This allows th right hand to
remain completely flat, with fingers spread. As you move
the right hand away from the outjoged card, it appears the
card has magically turned face down.

In a continuing action, you’ll move thr gith hand in a circular action nearer to the deck. During
this movement, the Six of Clubs against the right palm remains concealed, pinned into place by
the left fingers resting along the left side of the deck.

Move the right hand over the face of the deck and allow the concealed Six of Clubs to fall onto the
face of the deck. Within seconds the first magical change )of the outjogged card’s orientation_, the
spectator sees anotehr change on the face of the deck.

“If this card changed into the six of clubs,” Michael says, pointing to the face card, “then you’re
probably wondering what this card is huh?” He points toward the face-down outjogged card.

Remove the outjogged card with the right hand, flip it face up, and reinsert it partway into the
pack: it’s another Six of Clubs. For the final revelation, you’ll change the entire deck to Sixes of
Clubs.

To make the final change, spread the pack at waist height between your hands, pushing off the
first few face cards together (to conceal the Nine of Hearts second from the face). The entire deck
has become the selection.

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Credits

This effect originally appeared in the March 2007 issue of MAGIC magazine. Original Background
Info by Joshua Jay (below):

Michael Muldoon goes by “Sixx” when he performs and he has developed an interesting routine
around two Aaron Fisher moves: the revolution change and a clever reversal from the routine
Revolver [see The Paper Engine, 2002, by Aaron Fisher and John Lovick].

Sixx showed me his routine in the Fantasma Lobby - a place that is quickly becoming a round-the-
clock session environment for New York magicians. I was drawn to Shocked because it is quick,
completely in the hands, and has three visual phases.

Aaron Fisher’s revolution change is based on Jerry Andrus’ difficult but gorgeous startling color
change from Andrus Card Control. In Andrus’ original, a card is stolen off the face of the deck
and surreptitiously inserted back into the pack. The Reinsertion can be noisy and unforgiving;
Andrus did it flawlessly. Fisher’s variation is, happily, much easier because he has eliminated
the reinsertion. But those who have experimented with Fisher’s revolution change know the
trade off: there’s no place to ditch the stolen card. Aaron has several clever solutions that involve
changing the back design or the card’s orientation. Shocked is yet another solution, where the
entire deck changes to the spectator’s selection.

(PDF continued on next page)

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Thank you!
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