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Mysteries of Mind and Matter
by Daniel Skahen

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Mysteries of Mind and Matter by Daniel Skahen

With this ebook Dan shares a wealth of experience, thoughts and tips with you. It splits into four sections:

  1. Routines, Effects & Trickery
  2. Techniques, Sleights & Tools
  3. Shifts, Subtleties & Spices
  4. Thoughts, Essays & Theory
Check out the preview of this ebook. [Note: This ebook is an updated and expanded version of Dan's other four ebooks: Magic by Theory, Mastery in Magic, The Magic of Tyler and The Public Approach.]

Dan has a genuine desire to teach you from his experiences performing and living magic. Here is Dan in his own words:

How years developing my personal repertoire can contribute to the success of yours today...

When I first became interested in magic, my passion initially bordered on obsession. I became committed to learning, practicing and performing everything I could get my hands on to develop my reputation as a magician. In the first few years, I learned from dozens of books, videos, lectures and mentors, and ran with these lessons into the real world for hundreds of spectators.

I made rapid progress, learning the history of this art, digesting theory, practicing quintessential sleight of hand, and mastering classics of close-up magic. But I felt like I was missing something. I was missing a distinct, consistent repertoire of high quality effects that matched my style and standards as a performer.

Out of this urge to build the strongest repertoire I could, I began playing with new and old ideas, finding practical methods for ideal effects and powerful effects for ideal methods. Out of this creative play, an original repertoire emerged that has established my current reputation as a magician.

Why, if I had to choose only forty pieces of magic to perform for the rest of my life, I would choose the contents of this ebook...

Simply put, if you could only learn these forty routines, tricks, sleights, subtleties and shifts, they would form a repertoire sufficient to build a solid reputation for any magician in the world. Furthermore, if I could only choose forty pieces of magic to perform for the rest of my life, these would be the ones I'd choose.

Of course, I would never suggest neglecting the thousands of resources available to you in magic. I would never presume to say that my material is any better than any time-tested classics or modern innovations.

I only suggest that these Mysteries of Mind and Matter stand on their own two feet, and can independently deliver an amazing magical performance that will be lodged in the hearts and minds of any spectator you're likely to meet. If you are looking for a single collection of hard-hitting magic that will establish your reputation as a magician, you needn't look further than this ebook.

What, exactly, these Mysteries of Mind and Matter have to offer you...

These are not effects designed to entertain only your imagination, nor are these methods designed to appeal only to cleverness. These effects and methods are as powerful as they are practical, designed to pack small and play big in real world environments.

The best of these pieces fill the pages of my ebook, along with several essays I've written from observation, experience collected knowledge about the nature of a magical performance. I am not an authority on magic, nor do I wish to be. I'm just a regular magician, like you, and as such, I want to share as much as what I've learned so far as I can to help you along in your own journey.

How this ebook will return your investment countless times over...

I'll give you a concrete example and then a philosophical answer. First, I can testify to several thousand dollars that this material has brought in by itself. Every professional I shared it with moved it into his repertoire, and each employed one or two of these routines as one of their powerhouses. This is magic that lands gigs and keep gigs on your terms.

Now let me leave solid ground for a moment...

Although I am only a hobbyist, I take as much pride and satisfaction from my magic as an artist takes from his painting. And like the artist, whether or not I make a dime with my work, I make something far more valuable than money with my art.

Every time I present an amazing performance, I make a few moments of raw happiness for another person, which automatically brings about happiness for myself. This is why I perform. And these Mysteries of Mind and Matter are designed to make an amazing performance in the hands of any magician who masters them. What’s the value for you?

If you get to the heart of the matter, you can’t put a price on it. Of course I charge for this ebook to help my own finances along, and because I feel its appropriate for the years of effort that went into it. But the main reason I charge what I do is to keep it in the hands of amazing performers. This is my best achievement in magic, and although I want fellow magicians to present these effects to spectators worldwide, I only want the best performers to do so.

I trust that the willingness to invest money for this material represents the willingness to invest time and effort necessary to make the material magic.

Do you have what it takes?

This is my only question: Do you have it in you to be an excellent performer? Are you dedicated enough to practice these methods to mastery and bring these effects to life in the real world? If not, this ebook is not for you, and I don't want your money. Start with the sample above and see where it takes you. If you do have it in you, I encourage you to take this material and run with it. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

    SECTION I: Routines, Effects & Trickery
  1. Countdown
    The spectator freely names a card and a number. The deck is dealt to the chosen number, and the final deal is turned to reveal the chosen card. A moment later, this can be repeated with any variation of card, number, and spectator.
  2. Socked
    A signed selection appears in the magician's socks, under the fairest and most impossible conditions.
  3. Liquidation
    A borrowed dollar is folded and pushed into the magician's fist, the magic happens, and one hundred pennies then pour from his otherwise empty hand.
  4. Space & Time
    Two cards merely glimpsed from two halves of a deck switch places, without any apparent moves.
  5. York’s
    The magician takes a small Peppermint Patty out of its wrapper, chews it, and places it back into the foil. The foil is rewrapped, and the patty is returned to its original state.
  6. M&M’s
    The M&M's inside a bag of Plain M&M's and Peanut M&M's switch places - before the bags are ever opened.
  7. Identity
    Upon rubbing the back of a selected card, the magician changes its color. Then upon rubbing the front of the card, the spectator's name appears across the face.
  8. Identity Theft
    A signed selection is lost in the pack. Then a red card is slipped into the deck after it. With a snap of the fingers, the red card literally fuses to the selection.
  9. Blush
    The deck is spread and the spectator thinks of one card. While the magicians back is turned, the spectator pulls that card from the spread and covers it with their hand. When the magician turns, he flips the cards over to show them all blue. When the spectator turns his selection over, he sees that it is the only red one in the pack.
  10. Skahen’s Triumph
    A selection is lost in the deck, which is then shuffled face-up into face-down. The deck is then taken behind the magician's back, and a few moments later, the spectator's card is the only one face down in a face-up deck - that is in new-deck order.
  11. Bottomfeeder
    Each time the magician snaps his fingers, a selected card penetrates the card below it.
  12. Runaway
    In ten impossible phases, a signed selection turns face-up and face-down, disappears and reappears, in your pocket, behind a window, in your mouth, and under your shoe.
  13. Case Cracker
    Two selections, both free. One is placed in the case, the other is lost in the deck. A moment later, without any moves at all, they switch places.
  14. Zombie Card
    A signed and examined selection is held at the magician's fingertips, and as the magician moves his fingers away, it begins to float gently in mid-air. No invisible threads, wires, or magnets are used.
  15. Pocket to Card
    A signed selection is placed in the magician's pocket, and with a snap of the fingers, it appears back in the middle of the deck. After several repeating phases, you leave empty pockets and no trace of method.
  16. Card to Pocket
    This is my personal favorite method for achieving this classic effect - clean, simple, easy, and direct.
  17. Shadow Window
    A completely free selection is vanished at the magician's fingertips, only to appear behind a window across the room. The effect can instantly be repeated with the same card and the same window.

    SECTION II: Techniques, Sleights & Tools

  18. Popper
    The deck is held beneath the fingers, and any given card pops out of the pack from nowhere.
  19. Flipper
    A card is held in one of the magician's two empty hands. It is flipped over, fingers snap, and when it is flipped face-up again, the card has changed.
  20. The Fingertip Change
    A card is held in the magician's palm, his other hand is shown empty. The magician simply rubs the card and it changes in his hand.
  21. The Fingertip Vanish
    A card is placed on the table and the magician snaps his fingers over it. In an instant, it vanishes as if by trick photography.
  22. Slip & Slide
    The magician holds a card at his fingertips, and in a moment of Kung Fu magic, it splits into duplicate. This tutorial is complete with five applications of this powerful move.
  23. Slip Control
    Any given card is placed on top of the deck. The deck is slowly and cleanly cut onto the table. The top card hasn't changed.
  24. Slip Change
    A face-down card is slipped into the face-down deck. With a snap of the fingers, the deck is spread and the same card is found face-up.
  25. Deck Sandwich
    A card is selected and lost in the pack. The deck is spread face-up and the spectator chooses a spot between any two cards. In a flashy move, a face-down card appears between them - it's the selection.
  26. Deep Double
    Hands down, this is my personal favorite way of doing a double lift.
  27. Spin Double
    A fancy and flourishy double lift, executed with one hand, that ensures that you do not see the face of the card.
  28. Point Palm
    This is an alternative approach to palming anything from a card to a compact disc to a flashlight. This tutorial is complete with five rules for executing the palm and nine fully explained applications.
  29. Watch Palm
    This is an approach to palming that allows for dozens of productions, vanishes, switches and ditches, all while remaining free to operate your hands without a hint of something in them.
  30. Free Force
    The spectator calls stop as the magician cascades through a deck of cards. They are then given the choice of the top card on the bottom portion or the bottom card of the top portion. Either way, the choice has been yours all along.
  31. Sync Switch
    The means of switching one deck for another, in a smooth, natural and undetectable fashion, without the need for cargo pants or nerves of steel. This tutorial includes my favorite application of this switch, in a routine called The Broken Hearted.
  32. Stealth Switch
    Visual changes, secret exchanges, and ambitious card routines - all taken under the wing of this powerful utility sleight.

    SECTION III: Shifts, Subtleties & Spices

  33. Case Closed
    With the Brainwave Deck, certain selections are found red in a blue deck, others blue in a red deeck. This makes the color of the case something a person. This presentation negates this issue and further improves the effect.
  34. Slip Force Pause
    A few flaws of this classic sleight break the flow of its illusion. This simple change restores that flow, creating one of the best forces I know.
  35. Final Restoration
    The final phase of many torn-and-restored card routines is unnatural, with a lot of cover, no spectator involvement, and rough clean-up. I prefer this alternative approach.
  36. Skahen’s 2CM
    Neither a rehash nor a revision to the modern classic... rather a renovation, with new handling, new presentation, routining tips, a script of patter, and a kicker ending.
  37. Case Worker
    A simple gimmick I add to every card case I own, designed to do a great variety of dirty work in performance.
  38. Enemy of the State
    The new state quarters may be a great collectible, but they throw a monkey wrench into every routine that switches a borrowed quarter for a gaff. This presentation provides the solution.
  39. Center Tear Logic
    Effects utilizing this move can be spectacular, but they are equally illogical: why must the magician handle and tear the billet? A simple subtlety provides a logical explanation.
  40. Sharpie Twist
    The principle of consistency and unusual features - explained through a Sharpie marker.
  41. Hook, Line & Sinker
    A simple, direct, and condensed method for approaching any stranger with magic for a successful performance every time - explained in five pages of exhaustive detail.
  42. Devils on Deck
    The four gimmicks with which I feel comfortable to equip every deck I have.

    SECTION IV: Thoughts, Essays & Theories

  43. Real Magic
    In nine pages, I share my philosophy of magic, and how I believe you can make magic real using mere tricks and performance. I pull these ideas from philosophy, quantum physics, cutting-edge psychology like NLP, and the like, are concentrate "real magic" into a model that you can apply every time you perform. I break this down not only into simple and practical steps, but back them up with concrete examples of how you can create magic in the real world with all the classic illusions.
  44. Presentational Perspectives
    In twelve pages, I share the ideas and beliefs I have gathered and conceived about presentation, through the years of performances. I discuss the relationship between reality and magic, what I feel is the essential foundation of presentation is, the importance and ways of eliminating competition between you and the spectators, how to use rapport to enhance a performance, observations based on my interactions with many spectators, thoughts on improvisation, the direct use of anticipation to amplify reactions, and ten specific ways of cooling your nerves before and during a performance.
  45. The Public Approach
    In nineteen pages, I share the discoveries I have made about approaching strangers with magic. I discuss the two aspects I believe are essential to a successful performance in this context: the Internal Approach and the External Approach. In the Internal Approach, I discuss attitudes and perspectives, fundamental human nature, the process of making an impression, how to gain confidence, and overcoming internal obstacles to approaching. In the External Approach, I discuss my ten rules that apply to every public approach, how to communicate the right things in the first thirty seconds of meeting a spectator, thoughts about charm, how to deal with troublemakers, seven specific methods and techniques to approach a stranger with magic, and the essential mindset.
  46. Mastery in Magic
    In twelve pages, I discuss the subject in title. Can one really be a master of magic? What must one do to attain such status? Simply, how is the journey to mastery connected to the development of magic? I discuss the keys to success, the phases of learning, the pitfalls of progress, the friends of the master, and the steps to mastery. In essence these are principles I apply to the process of learning magic, and will continue for as long as I practice the art. I think that they will be just as useful for your own work.
1st edition 2008; 213 pages.
word count: 64714 which is equivalent to 258 standard pages of text