Hypnosis Magic

Derren Brown has become amazing popular over recent years with his unique brand of psychological illusions. He himself admits he is not a physic, so exactly how does he perform this sort of mental magic? It is in fact just another form of hypnosis known as covert or underground hypnosis that anyone can learn for themselves. See for yourself by learning the simple trick below.

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Hypnotic suggestions can be very effective in aiding magical illusions. Good magicians often tell stories and use other diversionary tactics in order to draw us in and alter our perceptions of what they are actually doing. They often use patter, taking our mind away from what they are doing, to create a mind blowing magical experience for us. Derren Brown uses hypnosis as a distraction of how he really performs his magical tricks. For example he used genuine hypnosis principals when he apparently sapped a boxer’s strength through the use of suggestion so that he could no longer lift a girl. However this was not what achieved the effect. All he did was control the situation and the girl made it more difficult to be lifted by moving away and relaxing certain muscles. However he set the mood as a hypnotic experiment and people were distracted away from the fact that he was performing a very simple illusion.

Hypnotic suggestions can be used in their own right for the basis of magic trickery. Here I will show you one such illusion, but first I will explain some hypnotic principals.

Within the disciplines of hypnosis and hypnotherapy there is an area called covert or conversational hypnosis. This is where suggestions are cleverly placed within apparently normal conversations without the knowledge of the recipient. For example a person utilsing covert hypnosis for selling their product may say something like “…so you will understand the power and usefulness of (their product) by now”. Do you see what they are doing? They have emphasized the words “(their product) by now”. This will be interpreted by the subconscious mind as “buy now”. If they were selling self help CD’s for example, the brain would receive the message “self help CD’s buy now”, without being consciously aware. This doesn’t ‘make’ people buy the product, but it can increase the likelihood, as people may feel intuitively compelled to buy. Of course they may or may not follow this intuition, but it greatly enhances the chances of a sale.

There are many other techniques to slip in suggestions within apparently normal conversation, but this is enough for the purposes of this trick.

For this trick you need absolutely nothing except a volunteer. I personally love tricks that you can perform impromptu without the need for any preparation or props.

Ask your volunteer if they have any dice on them. Unless they are very strange they are likely to say ‘no’. “Well in that case we’ll have to manage with an imaginary die for now”.

In this trick we are going to covertly suggest to them to pick a specific number on an imaginary die so that we can appear to read their mind. I find the easiest number to covertly suggest is the number 4, but you can experiment and use other numbers if you wish.

At the beginning of the illusions I will say something like “I have a trick Four you”, slightly emphasizing the word “four”.

I may also say “do you have a dice Four me to borrow?” When they say no I may reply “it’s ok Fourget it”. Again I slightly emphasise the use of “four” in each instance. Don’t overdo it though, or else they may be on to you!

I then give them instructions to vividly imagine a die being rolled in their minds. I may gesture a rolling motion with four fingers held up. I may also gesture counting four dots by pointing my finger four times. Now I ask them to close their eyes – the last things they saw was me gesturing four.

I ask them to imagine a die rolling. Get them to see it really clearly in their minds. Really dramatise this part. Act like you are reading their mind, and you are concentrating. Perhaps some elaborate story about learning these powers from a gypsy mind reader or something will help build the interest. Now ask them to look really carefully at the number for(!) you when it lands. They will be amazed when you correctly ‘read’ their mind and tell them they are looking at a four.

Of course friends and family will think you have got lucky and will demand you do it again. The choice is yours. This illusion doesn’t work every time. You can gamble and repeat again, or probably safer to quit while your ahead! If you are tempted to repeat the trick you can tell them that you can only perform this trick Two times in a day because it saps all your psychic strength…any more is too much. You get the picture, yes?!

The thing with this trick is that it isn’t guaranteed to work every time. However it does work often – far more statistically than a 1 in 6 roll of a die. I would estimate that it works 70 or 80 percent of the time for me. One secret that seems to help with this trick is by doing it with the utmost confidence. Believe that it will work and it is far more likely that it will. Be committed and lay yourself on the line a little. Don’t worry if they pick another number. Laugh it off with the rest of them and then quickly change the subject!


Jon Rhodes is a professional clinical hypnotherapist from the UK. He has helped thousands around the world with his very popular online hypnosis sessions. Please click here for more information on covert hypnosis.

Underground Hypnosis