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eddie104 New user Florida 44 Posts |
If you could do it all over again, which resources/books would you purchase to get started in cold reading?
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Logan Five Inner circle Northern California 1434 Posts |
I think learning a couple of systems would be more of value that doing a cold or a stock type of reading. When I started I took a lot of the advice from a cassette I purchased by a reader in the NYC area by the name of Alexander Thomas. Lot's of great info in there and also a sample reading is on the cassette. I think the essays on fortune telling by T.A Waters is of value that can be found in Mind, Myth & Magick.
Self concept is destiny..
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jimtron Inner circle 2039 Posts |
I would recommend Ian Rowland's "Full Facts of Cold Reading." Here's a great list of other resources. If you do a search for "cold reading" here at the Café, you'll find a plethora of information as well. By the way, this can be a contentious topic here at the Café.
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David Numen Inner circle 2072 Posts |
It depends what you want to do with readings - personally I find Rowland´s book of little worth from the viewpoint that it´s clear he hasn´t really done any professional readings. Check out the works of Richard Webster and Joe Riding which are both enough to get you started.
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The Truth Seeker New user 9 Posts |
I'd second Ian Rowland's Full Facts book.
Despite what some hobbyists say, the guy has been doing it professionally for a long time, and he's very good at it! The Truth Seeker |
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Bambaladam Special user 636 Posts |
It depends what you want to learn it for. The most enlightening book I know of is Crowley's Book of Thoth, which is exceptionally useful although not about cold reading at all.
I think a good place to begin is Cassidy's Cold Reading book, and Webster's stuff is awesome. Rowlands' book isn't that useful if you want to give focused readings in private, but has some "tricks" you can use to spice up stage presentations. Don't expect to be as good as John Edward after reading that book though. It does have merits, but not enough to outweigh the negative attitude it conveys toward readings and readers in general. Ethical/exposure considerations aside (no need to open that can again, however bad it stinks), I can't recommend it until you are at a much later stage in private readings, or until you already have a solid QA act that doesn't use "methods" (a la Dynamite Mentalism and Gene Nielsen's wonderful book... I will add the name when I am back with my library). Don't confuse stage "readings" with private sessions. The latter require an entirely different approach than "cold reading", and in the former, "cold reading" is only ever icing on the cake. Start out with a genuine interest in one of the traditional systems, and build on that. If you want advice, pm me. /Bamba |
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fred200 Loyal user 213 Posts |
If I have to star again I star with initiations by thomas alexander,the tarot in 7 days by joe ridding, the inner secrets of expert in cold reading by fred crouter then quick readings with numerology and cold front by doug dyment.
From there herb dewey{if you can find his stuff},ron martin and all the books of richard webster. |
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Bambaladam Special user 636 Posts |
I want to add a strong and emphatic "Hell Yeah!" to the recommendations of Initiations and Ron Martin's books. They are great!
/Bamba |
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David Numen Inner circle 2072 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-01-31 04:10, The Truth Seeker wrote: Since I was the one who alluded to Rowland´s book not being very good I guess you are referring to me as a "hobbyist". I have been a psychic reader for over 12 years with a pretty good tack record. I´ve been on several radio stations in that capacity, wrote and presented my own paranormal special for a radio station and wrote an astrology and paranormal column for a local newspaper for 18 months so I am hardly a hobbyist. Ian Rowland, to my knowledge, has NEVER worked as a "real" psychic. He has only ever been called in by newspapers and magazines and TV shows to demonstrate how convincing a "fake" psychic can be. And this is the approach taken in his book. The problem with this approach is that he makes some assumptions which don´t cut any ice in real life and I personally don´t think anyone following the book would last very long if they tried to enter the "real" psychic market. On the other hand Richard Webster has worked in all areas of the psychic world and has become a very successful author for the new age field. The late, great, Joe Riding also worked as a tarot and palm reader so he has real world advice which I don´t think you´d get from Rowland´s writings which, to me, are what a magician imagines cold reading to be about. For my money here are my absolute favourites on the subject. although I would always recommend a full study of whatever particular divination method you are going to use. Quick and Effective Cold Reading by Richard Webster Joe Riding´s Psychic Course Kenton Knepper and Rex Sikes Wonder Readings Millard Longman´s Psychic Skills Workshop Brad Henderson´s The Dance Alexander Thomas´ Initiations Bob Cassidy´s Real Work of Cold Reading (particularly good for busting some of the myths which people like Rowland and co. propagate). If, as the thread title suggests, I could start all over again, I think the best and freest way of learning the art would be Millard´s PSW and Kenton´and Rex´x Wonder Readings. With those two sources you will have endless variations and possibilities. |
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David Numen Inner circle 2072 Posts |
Oh, forgot to add I would throw in The Dance also as it has some great stuffo on how to adjust.
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Dr Spektor Eternal Order Carcanis 10781 Posts |
Hey - what do people think of Lee Earle's "Gentle Art" CD for the beginner?
I also second Ian Rowland's book - there is a script in there one can easily adapt to almost anybody - plus it is good as a book for the "framework" of the process... so that if you get that base - you can do anything - including reading chicken bone leftovers... I always hear about the Dance - is it worth shelling out the wacky prices on Ebay??!
"They are lean and athirst!!!!"
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The Truth Seeker New user 9 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-01-31 05:33, bartlewizard wrote: I wasn't specifically Bart but if the cap fits..... If you don't mind me asking, which radio station, it sounds interesting! And why did the column only last 18 months? Did you get bored or did you find that the audience for such a column wasn't there? It's a shame, one doesn't get to see many paranormal columns and such. The Truth Seeker ps I think your negative comments on Ian Rowlands book are perhaps borne out of something more than you state, no? |
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dan parker New user Germany 51 Posts |
I recommend "Wonder Readings" from Kenton Knepper.
Very good ideas, and easy to listening... In my opinion is Ian Rowlands Book to theoretic |
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mota Inner circle 1658 Posts |
Quick and Effective Cold Reading by Richard Webster..this teaches you how to actually do a palm reading.
Then some basic book from the library or bookstore on palmistry to expand your technical knowledge of palmistry. In my experience, people want palm readings more than anything else. Tarot is good too, but given a choice the vast majority of people will pick palm. I wouldn't bother with most of the magic books...they have the mindset because they fake it everyone does. Stock readings and tricks don't last long in the real world. Impression devices are a waste of time, just ask them what they want the reading on. I've seen it mentioned multiple times that they don't care how you get the question, they just want the answer. Only magicians worry about tears and peeks, real readers don't bother with this as their clients just don't care. Stage is another animal entirely that I don't feel qualified to comment on but there peeks and tears certainly could prove useful. Millard Longman seems quite real world also and comes very highly recommended by Ford Kross and others who's opinions I value...just haven't done a lot with him...I do feel good suggesting you would learn stuff that you could actually do in the real world from him. This is of course far from inclusive...I have Joe Riding's 7 day Tarot course and that would get you started, though the outlook on some of his interpretations is a bit negative...but as you got experience you would learn more. So, to summarize, I would just have spent the time to learn palmistry and the only magician book I would buy again is Richard Webster's Quick and Effective Cold Reading...but that is fantastic. You learn how to actually do a palm reading. |
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calamari Elite user The San Francisco Bay Area 429 Posts |
Is there one source or reference that would be the best place to start?
"I came, I saw, SHE conquered." (The original Latin seems to have been garbled.)
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David Numen Inner circle 2072 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-01-31 07:43, The Truth Seeker wrote: May I ask what your credentials are Truth Seeker, since you seem so keen on denouncing others? And since I have spent 12 years as a psychic reader, in what way would the cap of "hobbyist" fit? Regarding which paper and radio stations, I would rather not be specific as I don´t want my real-world name linked with a magic forum but to be vague I was on a top local Scottish station twice, 3 appearances as a psychic (enhanced with some mentalism effects) on a top English radio station in Spain, countless appearances doing the weekly horoscopes on another English station in Spain, the paranormal special (which was on Mental Bending) was on this same channel, that station changed hands and became a "younger" station so I moved to another Englsih station in Spain which was tied in with my Newspaper column. I only did the newspaper and radio work for publicity and I ceased both when I changed location 2 years ago. My dislike of Rowland´s Cold Reading book is for the reasons I have previously stated which I think are pretty explicit. |
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Mike Baxter New user Vancouver, B.C. 87 Posts |
Quote:
In my experience, people want palm readings more than anything else . . . I agree. In case it got lost in the shuffle of earlier posts, Doug Dyment's Cold Front is a very convenient palm reading learning tool based on Richard Webster's ‘Quick and Effective Cold Reading’. Q&E is currently out of print and hard to obtain. I would suggest that of equal use as Q&E are the more easily obtained RW books such as Complete Book of Palmistry and Palm Reading For Beginners. |
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Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
If I could do it all again, I would run away with the Gypsies.
Having started my work on this back in the 70's, there were not that many resources (Nelson, Anderson, Larson, Corinda, but not much more in the magic arean). I'd probably have saved my money for visits to readers and learned more by example. Tony |
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mota Inner circle 1658 Posts |
My apologies...Mike Baxter is correct and I forgot...
Doug Dyments flash cards titled, "Cold Front" are the core of Richard's palm reading system. They are done with Richard's permission and are a very effective way to learn his approach to palm reading. |
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mysticz Special user D.C. metro area 680 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-01-31 13:34, TonyEye wrote: I agree. When I began learning to perform readings in the mid 1970s, there was little available on the magic market that was very helpful. My interest in psychology and sociology was very helpful in increasing my understanding of people, and my study of occult publications concerning tarot and other traditional divination methods enabled me to develop my own unique approach to psychic reading. I also benefitted from Josef Ranald's 1930s works on palmistry and handwriting analysis that I was able to find while exploring used book shops. By the time I came across many of the excellent works by Webster, Dewey, Kross, Martin, etc., I had already developed a unique and fairly successful approach to a number of divination systems. While I am glad that I have had the benefit of access to these later works, I feel fortunate that I learned the ropes on my own and was able to develop my own approach to this craft. Joe Z.
Joe Zabel
"Psychic Sorcery" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. -- Shakespeare's Hamlet I.v. 174-175 |
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