Why is the instruction so poor?
It seems like an attempt to be thorough,
but it's just
poor instruction repeated for pages and pages
in what could have been communicated in 1 page.
On top of that, I'll give an example of poor instruction.
This won't give away any
secrets, but here's an example of something very near to what you'd read in Isabella's Star:
To
work out an Astrological Number, take the date and ___ it and ___ the month number. (I had to figure
out that by "date" meant day of the month...maybe this is a british thing). For example, if the
date is the 3rd of March, take the day (in our case 3), ___ it, and ___ the month number.
In our
case it's the 3rd month, so the total would be __. Then take the year, for 2003, in our case, the
year would be 3. So take 3, then ___ 3, and then _____ by 3.
??
Why would you
use the same digit for explanatory purposes?
That was Isabella's Star 1. Did they improve the
explanation in 2? No, they made it even more hard to understand. In IS2, they used May 5th, 2005
as the example. So you have to follow along their explanation, "So all you do if the date is 5, 05,
2005, is first take 5, then __ it by 5, next ___ 5 and you get ___, then all you do is ___ 5 to the
total."
The above is my first frustration with IS2 (just making the same teaching mistake
as he did in IS1).
I had to read the explanation 10 times to try to figure out what he was
talking about; it could have been written so much better.
What about the end effect? In
the end, that's what matters.
In short, it doesn't quite match what you'd expect from the
description. You don't just walk up to someone and know their sign.
Without revealing
any method, a more honest description of the effect would be:
Imagine walking up to a complete
stranger in the park. You teach them a lecture on how to calculate a number based on their date of
birth. Then you pull out a deck of cards to help them find their date of birth as it would
correspond to a deck of playing cards. Alternatively, you could have them write down something.
Then after just one or a few guesses, you tell them their date of birth!
Basically, it
would be like a magician who can just classic force a card, or control a freely chosen card
effortlessly...and then that magician arrives at the chosen card by dealing 3 columns of 7 rows of
cards, asking the spec whether her card is is such and such pile, then dealing another 3 rows of 7
rows of cards, and on and on and on.... just to find a card.
So the magician could've
forced a card in 10 seconds (CT or peek), or he can find the card using the 21 card method in only 2
and a half minutes.
I'm gonna stick with a CT. Using any CT or peek, which you can
purchase instructions for on penguinmagic, you can tell them their date of birth (without any
pre-show!, lol). the method itself will demand less from the spectator (they won't need to
calculate something, then write something down or use a deck of playing cards), and getting to the
climax will be faster.
Or, you could do what I do. And just say something like this, "You
know, you seem like a Leo (most common sign..watch reaction)...but a Virgo (next most common sign)
would be better for this next trick." Now you've got about a 1 in 5 chance of being right. A
miracle!!! (for one in every 5 shows...the other 4 shows nobody remembers that you tried to guess
their sign).
12 of 12 magicians found this helpful.
Isabella's star is a beutiful routine wich if you know the method will certainly agree i mean to
reavel when the spectator was born is one of the greatest pieces of mentalism you can preform and
now you get another way of preforming without the math and memory work of the previous routine with
the addition of having there zodiac signs revealed as a double kicker oh yeah and theres no more
progressive anagram so now it's a routine that's much easier same power and an extra kicker so what
are you waiting for?buy it now
1 of 7 magicians found this helpful.