MND//SET

For it is in the blending of the pseudo with the authentic, that is found the real basis for Psychic Magic’s rightful place in the art of entertainment.

Ormond McGill, Psychic Magic (1951)

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Welcome to another essay, now hosted by MND//SET, a Mentalism lifestyle brand I’m running with my great friend, Daniel Sutton.

Before we get into the real meat of today’s essay post, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for the support and engagement we’ve been seeing on our YouTube videos! It’s astonishing that after only a couple of video posts, the community is engaging with our style of thinking. We’ve noticed highly detailed comments on our videos, with people sharing their unique insights and opinions, and we’ve even seen people posting on the Facebook groups, inviting non-members of the MND//SET community to respectful discourse on the latest news and releases.

That’s the name of the game here at MND//SET, really. To encourage respectful discourse, to inspire others to think critically about their artistic intentions and decisions as mentalists, and to challenge commonly accepted “rules” and traditions.

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Now, I would love to share with you one of the hidden gems I’ve uncovered reading some of the older books and publications from our art form’s past. While there are many current performers and creators sharing excellent ideas to our community, there are plots, ploys, ideas, and insights just waiting to be uncovered and have new life breathed into them.

Now, it’s understandable why these older books aren’t often talked about: the writing styles are often dry as shit, some of the effects are clearly products of their time, leading many to quickly dismiss them as impractical, and they’re not often talked about, leading to any gems being pushed to the side.

For today’s essay, the gem I’m sharing is not an effect, method, or subtlety, but a way to critically think about your Mentalism, and across space and time, is gifted to us by Ormond McGill, author of the classic Psychic Magic book. This book is most popular for teaching a propless PK Touch method, which has been used by top pros such as Peter Turner, Lewis Le Val, and Jerome Finley, to name a few.

The gem I’m sharing is the excerpt that opens this essay:

For it is in the blending of the pseudo with the authentic, that is found the real basis for Psychic Magic’s rightful place in the art of entertainment.

Bit by bit, I’ll be sharing a few of my observations and explorations of this piece of advice.

Authenticity in Premise

This is one often talked about in the Mentalism community, but it’s one I’ve even noticed popular performers and creators not living up to, even when they preach to others to do the same. Tsk tsk tsk.

This observation is simple to understand: if your effect is centered around a premise that’s not just “direct mind-reading” (whatever the fuck that means), it is your DUTY as a mentalist to instill moments of real-world data and observations. For example, if your effect is divining a star sign, then you should research as much as you can about genuine Astrology, rather than just going to the first method that “works” because it’s direct and gets the job done. Find alignment between the deceptive method(s), your character, and the narrative your effect is instilling within the minds of your audince.

Another example: if your intention in performing a Name Divination is to make it emotional and uplifting, having the participant remind themselves of how much they cherish the person they wrote on the billet, spend a few moments researching visualization and mindfulness techniques that are designed to bring forth such emotions. The final moment of divining the name now acts as the trigger that unleashes the emotions they’ve summoned internally into the physical world.

Authenticity in Method

Too often, magicians of all sorts are guilty of having their deceptive method and intended effect be out of alignment, presentationally. Recently, I saw a nice Thought-of Card. It fooled the shit out of me, got me thinking to start bringing out cards again at my working gigs, and left me amazed at how clean it was!

However, I noticed a blemish in what was being presented, and the choreography of the method. At the beginning, the magician presented it as using cards to do direct mind-reading. His participant was to think of a card, and he was going to deduce it. However, towards the climax of the effect, the presentation quickly shifted to being a You Do As I Do.

Propless Name Divinations can sometimes be guilty of this, too. A lot of them begin with some sort of procedure that’s justified as a psychic reading system. However, towards the end of the effect, it starts looking less like a psychic revelation and more like a psychological mind-reader trying to pick up on arbitrary details about the name itself, rather than the person the name is attached to.

Inner Authenticity

This is a BIG ONE, hence why I saved it for last. It’s not gonna be big in terms of the amount of words needed to share my thoughts, but big in the sense that it’s a philosophical issue within Magic that I notice many don’t give a shit about. However, I’ve found it to be the most impactful element that made my Magic and Mentalism a game-changer in my performance life. These days, I’m revealing information in ways that I find my most truest part of my being being brought to public awareness. And, my audiences can tell.

Inner authenticity… why do you perform the stuff that you do? How do you integrate your personal truths about life and the world into the deceptive methods and routines you demonstrate? To take a page out of Picasso’s book… What is the truth behind your theatrical lies?

If you were to take out every trick, gimmick, and deceptive element from your Magic… would you still have something worthwhile to say that can captivate your audiences?

Do you perform in the style that you do because, deep down, it feels like the most authentic representation of what a mentalist looks like to you?

With the performance style you’re currently using, as you’re going through the choreography, do you feel a gradual increase in feeling that the stranger before is feeling more like a new friend?

Or, is your performance style derived from creators you admire?

When you perform, are you doing it cause it’s “cool” or because people give you cheap admiration?

Do you perform in a certain style because you’re worried about what your Magic friends may say?

Are you performing Magic that’s about Magic? Or are you performing Magic that has something to artistically say?

These style of questions, the journey of creating Magic and Mentalism that is authentic and artistically expressive, is one of the most important keys to creating truly powerful effects and routines. Sadly, it’s one of the few aspects of Magic that can’t be taught.

I’ve been pondering these style of questions for close to seven years, and honestly, it’s only in the last 18 months or so that my public performances have begun to be in alignment to my theoretical understanding.

For magicians that care more about assisting the consumerist mindset the Magic community has leaned into over the last several years, such a journey is simply not worth it. Divining the name of a first kiss, with an uninspiring presentation, is more than enough to have them believe they are performing Mentalism that is “emotional” or about “connecting” with their audience.

Ponder the insight Ormond shared in his Psychic Magic. For your Magic and Mentalism, what does it look like to blend the authentic with the deceptive? And, once you have the answers to that question, you now have to ask the brutally honest question…

Are your performances living up to the theory and philosophy you have about Magic?

I know this is a pretty heavy essay to share with you on a beautiful Sunday (at least here). But Sunday, being a day representative of relaxation and reflection, I found it fitting.

With all my love,

Christopher Parrish

– May 31st, 2026