AMYGDALA

Imagine being able to discover exactly which letters a spectator is secretly focusing upon, in real time, using nothing more than a childishly simple game of free word association. By repeating this brief process, you can obtain the first, second, last or any other letters from their thought-of word, gradually acquiring the information needed to reveal their entire thought.

All of this is achieved with one simple instruction explaining how to play the game, followed by a few freely exchanged words. There are no billets, no writing, no props, no complicated questioning and no fishing between multiple possible letter outcomes.

AMYGDALA represents what I genuinely believe to be the greatest breakthrough of my creative career and one of the most powerful billet-less mental peeks ever devised. Having previously developed Progeny and Mantis, I doubted whether this particular area of prop-less mentalism could be pushed any further. Then an extraordinary mathematical arrangement fell into place that I could scarcely believe was possible, resulting in a remarkably compact, practically self-working system that takes the secret acquisition of information into entirely new territory.

The procedure could hardly be simpler. Your spectator concentrates upon a letter from their thought-of word, and you give them one straightforward instruction explaining how to play a game that is exceptionally easy to understand and follow. You then take turns naming words through free association or dissociation, with the spectator choosing their own responses. After a brief exchange, you know the precise letter they are concentrating upon, despite having no apparent way of knowing what their responses are even supposed to mean. The ingenious underlying arrangement handles everything invisibly, allowing you to obtain precise information through an apparently innocent interaction.

Unlike previous methods and breakthroughs in this field, which can require additional fishing between several possible letters, AMYGDALA resolves twenty-three letters individually, with the remaining Q, X and Z accommodated by a single exceptional outcome. These uncommon letters can be readily distinguished through the context of the spectator's word or a brief additional exchange, meaning that the system provides direct access to the exact letter in the overwhelming majority of cases without any further fishing.

The same memorised system can then be repeated to obtain whichever additional letters you require. You might acquire multiple letters of a thought-of word, or take a more economical approach by obtaining only its initial letter and combining that information with natural categories, contextual clues and the supplementary revelation techniques taught in the book. This streamlined handling can often be sufficient to identify an entire word or name without repeating the game. Equally, AMYGDALA can be incorporated into your existing mentalism routines whenever secretly acquiring a letter would provide valuable leverage, allowing you to narrow down a thought, strengthen a revelation or obtain information that would otherwise remain inaccessible.

What makes the construction particularly beautiful is that the presentation and method are effectively one and the same. Everything necessary to acquire the information is built into the procedure itself, concealed beneath the innocent guise of playing a simple game of word association. The entire effect can be performed openly, with everyone hearing the instruction and witnessing the exchange, yet remaining completely fooled. Alternatively, the instruction can be given discreetly during pre-show or on an off-beat moment, creating an even cleaner demonstration of the game. This is by no means necessary, but it is an additional possibility that the method makes exceptionally easy to achieve. Either way, the spectator's choices are genuine, and the procedure is designed to deceive even experienced magicians and mentalists.

Despite its extraordinary capabilities, AMYGDALA is remarkably straightforward to learn and perform. The memory work is comparable to that required by other similar letter and word divination systems and consists primarily of learning a single, carefully constructed mental crib. Once memorised, the procedure becomes practically self-working, leaving you free to concentrate on your spectator and presentation rather than the mechanics. The method can also be adapted to other languages, and the book teaches you how to construct your own mental cribs, personalise your vocabulary and create word lists tailored to your individual style of performance.

Once mastered, AMYGDALA becomes a permanent tool in your mentalism repertoire, available at a moment's notice and requiring nothing beyond your own mind and the words you speak. Its compactness and versatility make it equally effective as a standalone method for revealing thought-of words and names or as a means of secretly obtaining valuable information within other routines.

I genuinely believe AMYGDALA stands at the leading edge of what is possible within this genre of mentalism. For years, performers have pursued the ideal of acquiring precise information through an apparently innocent verbal interaction, and while previous approaches have come remarkably close, I believe this system achieves that ambition with an unprecedented degree of efficiency, directness and deceptive elegance. What seemed almost impossible not so long ago can now be accomplished through one of the simplest procedures imaginable. I believe we may finally have arrived at something remarkably close to the perfect solution.

Having spent years searching for the most elegant and deceptive means of acquiring secret information through language alone, I genuinely feel that AMYGDALA represents the pinnacle of my creative journey. Its simplicity, economy, versatility and extraordinary deceptiveness represent everything I have been striving to achieve, and I honestly do not know how I could improve upon it.

With AMYGDALA, the seemingly impossible becomes astonishingly simple, placing the extraordinary ability to uncover another person's most private thoughts within your reach, at any moment, armed with nothing more than the power of your words.

I created the tool for myself and now it can be yours.