If you could tell someone what day of the week they were born, would that be useful in a cold reading session? Note that I´m not asking how to do it, I already know how to, but if it would be impressive to the sitter?
It could be used in a more vague way: "Tuesday seems to be your lucky day/a day that means something special to you..."

Has anyone tried it?

Mikael

I don't know how much it'd impress most people. But it wouldn't impress me. I don't know on which day of the week I was born, and it's not of interest to me.

And I know that there's a relatively easy way to determine the day of the week for any given date.

I'm not suggesting that it won't impress some people, or possibly most people. I really have no idea whether or not most people know on which day of the week they were born.

Dave

I don't know what day of the week I was born.
But if you produce a calender and told me to look up the day and then you told me the day, that might be a good angle. Kind of like Bob Cassidy callender trick.


E-LEoni.

At first I thought that this wouldn't work, as I don't know what day I was born on.

But with some more thought, that fact alone may make the trick stronger.

You say to the spectator, "Use your phone, find out."

Two things could be the outcome.

1) they phone their mum etc,
2) a lot of phones have a calender on them now as they also function as a diary.

Which ever they do, you could wishy washy claim to have kown that they would have done that with the phone,

Needs a bit more work, but very impropture if you know the dob.

I'm going to give this one some thought,

Thanks,

Fon

I've occasionally done this as a stand alone effect when down at the pub, and found it to be reasonably impressive for people. I think you need to sell it as "I've memorized the entire 20th century calendars" type effect. Never thought to try it as part of cold reading.

I think ANY personal information relating to the person getting the reading would add greatly to the overall effect.
Ted (Leondo)

I think this would greatly add to the reading.Especially when they don't know the date themselves. If you had them look it up when they got home, and you were right, IT would be a true miracle! You told them something about themselves they didn't know, and it was true!


Chad

I doubt, that, it would add much to the reading. It certainly wouldn't hurt. Telling them their birth date or zodiac sign is more impressive
from
Ford
Ford has a better idea

There are technniques which allow to discern the sign of the Zodiac, as Ford pointed out. Now, if you use something like Chelman's Zodiaque, you can 'sense' the birthdate within a 7 days span. If THEY know the day of their birth, and you are conversant (and quick) at the calendar methods, you could discern the exact birthdate... But the fishing might be a little apparent.

I use it a lot in cold readings to great effect - I usually start off guessing the horoscope, ask for the date, guess the Chinese horoscope, then tell them the day of the week they were born. It never fails to amaze - and it's one of those effects that people tell their friends about...

bb

Where can one find the "formula" for ascertaining the week day for the date of birth?

It can be found in Banacheks Psychological subtelties. Or if you are really desperate it can be forumulated with some thought, (pay attention to leap years!)

Fon

You can find details in step 3 of Corinda's Thirteen Steps To Mentalism (pp 71).

Cheers

Mark

Well, not really... Psychological subtelties only tells you how to do it with the present year. I learned it from a friend, a method heavy on math. I then simplified that method. I then read Dominic´s book How to develop a perfect memory, and discovered he used about the same method. I have since simplified it more, since I am uncomfortable with math, and my present method is simpler and faster than anything I have read about, plus it uses no math at all, only memory.

Mikael

If anyone's interested, I use a method that I find simpler than the one detailed in "13 steps". There's less memory work and the calculations are simple. You could PM me, or as I'm approaching 50 posts then maybe it could be discussed in the Banquetting Room.

Greetings,

I've used this effect in magic but not readings. The birth date of a child is especially important for a parent. When I have presented the day of week their child was born, they have always known and been surprised. So, when doing magic for a child, I like to recite the poem "Monday's Child" and show them why their child is blessed with the promised benefit of that day.

Monday's Child is fair of face,
Tuesday's Child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child must work hard for a living,
Sunday's child is fair and wise.

Sam Haine

Only problem is if they were born on a Wednesday... there are a couple of variations worth knowing should that be the case.

bb

Wednesday's child is full of glow?

:evilgrin:

One nice alternative version (if someone's a Wednesday!):
Sunday's child is full of grace;
Monday's child is fair of face;
Tuesday's child loves to race;
Wednesday's child is kind of heart;
Thursday's child is very smart;
Friday's child will never part;
Saturday's child is good of heart.

If anybody would like a list of (astrological) attributes for each day of the week, send me a private message.

Also check out:

http://www.gatesofheck.com/burtner/mondays.html

has some nice examples of celebrities for each day of the week hope it might be useful...

bb

Could anyone tell me where to find out about 'Chelman's Zodiaque' or a similar technique? Thanks.