How Mentalists Read Your Mind The Art Of Cold Reading or Mind Reading | Page 76

communicate with the spirit world. Introduce yourself and get the
subject's name. Try to make them comfortable talking to you, but
at the same time try to make them a little nervous about what is to
come. Explain that the person on the "other side" really wants to
communicate with them, but that you are merely a vessel or a gobetween, and you will need the subject's help. This makes the
reading more dramatic, prepares the subject for the possibility of
mistakes, and enlists their cooperation. Be modest about your
abilities, but display a quiet confidence.
5.
Go fishing. If you're a professional, you may have studied
statistical information about people, you may be trained to read
body language, you may even have accomplices that help you, but
let's face it: you still know hardly anything about the person sitting
in front of you. If you just start making guesses, you'll almost
certainly be wrong, but if you ask questions, you'll get the right
answers from the subject himself. For example, you could clarify
what you learned in shotgunning by asking, "Now, Billy, he's your
grandfather?" Ask questions in such a way so that they can be
perceived as statements. That way, if the subject affirms your
question, it will seem as though you knew the answer. If the subject
indicates that Billy was not his or her grandfather, however, it's
OK--you were just asking a question.
6.
Build on the answers to your questions. Most of the time, the
subject will volunteer more information than is necessary. He
might say something like, "No, Billy was my uncle. He lived on a
farm." You now actually know something about your subject,
which is more than you could say before. By using this information
to ask more questions you can give the impression that you
actually know quite a bit about the subject. This, obviously,
requires fast thinking, but if you're a good listener - the most
important quality for cold readers - you'll get up to speed quickly.
7.
Use Barnum statements. Barnum statements, named after
the circus showman P.T. Barnum, are statements that will apply to
just about anybody but which will give the impression that you