I've noticed that, generally, pegasus has gone a bit soft lately. However, with respect to this trick, I believe his original assessment was, as they say, spot on:

A syringe, parchment, and a coffin nail.
Kick starter info to follow.

Well yes, however, I do honestly believe this can be a great effect IF you create the required layers of deception within your performance. There’s some great ideas within this thread, and It’s the reason Max loved it so much, because he knows he has the ability to deceive and destroy.

Nice find Pegasus! as for the routine, I won't use the voodoo doll presentation.. this way, people won't associate or search for the voodoo trick

Just do what I do and follow up any effect that you believe could be ‘looked up’’ by performing my favourite, smashed and restored cell phone, but don’t bother with the restored phase.

Now that’s the Pegasus I know.

Lol

Exactly! anyhow I miss so often creativity at performers. just because I bought "balance" I will tell the story of the prison-guy sending me letters? no!
make up your own stories and presentation guys!

my idea for voodoo-needle: ...late night... still (candle)light at the atelier-window of the fashion-designer... he was close to fall asleep but still sketching a new design for a dress... like this you give a logic reason to all items! the block, the pen and even the needle.

;-)

and after that a hindu-thread and you made out of 2 little pieces a "spooky-fashion-night"

😂

I thought this was obvious

Right?!?

I agree with this as well.

I couldn’t figure out what Maddy was talking about when he said it was on tiktok. And then I see my daughter on tiktok doing this. I asked her where she learned it from and she said “ I seen it on tiktok and just tried it and it worked “. I ended up buying this for the details. Not sure if I’ll use it yet. Only time will tell for me.

I was happy to see that my brief quote for Voodoo Needle made it into the trailer. I thought I would hop on here and loosely explain how I have been performing it since I first saw it at Blackpool.

I perform a lot of walk around mentalism and knew I had to somehow fit it in to a set.

I approach a table with an A4 pad and begin to talk about the use of altars in various cultures throughout history, and how they are used as a focal point, and each item on the altar is symbolic of something much greater. I then draw the outline of a human figure in the centre of the pad and explain that it symbolises the physical self. Next, I perform a handful of different routines, writing my predictions, reveals, drawing duplications and everything else around the outside of the figure, almost like an aura, whilst also using the pad as a close-up mat in-between reveals, essentially creating an altar that is unique to the group I am performing for.

Finally, I explain that this altar we have created represents, among other things, our shared connection and the collective unconscious of the group. I have written and drawn everything outside of the human figure to symbolise the idea that our thoughts are external as well as internal. The thought originates in the mind like a pebble dropped in a pond and the ripples spread, and anyone willing, in the right state, can recognise and receive those ripples as I have been demonstrating. This altar, a now sacred space becomes my channel, ready for a physical demonstration.

I give a simple, thirty to sixty second talk about the third eye, representing our sixth sense, which is technically our first sense (natural knowing. Nobody tells the seed to become a tree, but it does. Nobody tells the sperm to swim to the egg, but we did. A natural, universal knowing that modern society denies existence of, yet wouldn't exist without.) I then opt for a less impressive reveal, for a specific reason. I have five m****d ESP cards shuffled and tabled face down. One spectator picks up the top card, takes a look then shows it to the group before putting it back down. Everyone is now thinking of the same symbol (except for me, obviously). I place the pin in the forehead of the human figure on the pad (third eye) and ask everyone to focus the thought of the chosen symbol on the head of the pin, the focal point, and they will see the moment the ripples of the thought leave their mind and reach both the altar and myself.

I then draw the ESP symbol and of course (via the Voodoo Needle method) the pin moves too. when done I remove the pin, sign and date the bottom of the page then pull it from the pad, place my business card on the top left corner and stick the pin through both my card and the page before leaving it in the centre of the table, with a thank you and a round of applause.

I choose to reveal an ESP symbol because it is not about the reveal, but about the visual moment I receive the thought, and ESP symbols are very easy for people to recognise through the movement of the pin head, especially the square, circle and star. Also, an ESP symbol gives just enough movement for it to remain a wonder and not become a novelty.

The wavy lines, in my opinion, are the worst to do this with. So if I glance down at my m**k and see that the wavy lines is on top, instead of asking the spectator to take the top card, I simply spread the cards on the table and ask them to pick one. In this case they are highly unlikely to take the top card if they have been spread.

This surreal piece of art is a souvenir definitely worth keeping. I know of a few people already who have framed theirs.

I thought I'd share this here incase it inspires anyone as I too wanted an alternative presentation to the voodoo doll.

Lewis x

That's a wonderful presentation, Lewis. How generous of you to share it with us.

I'm glad you like it rosariorose9, I understand it might not suit everyone's style but I also think anyone performing Voodoo Needle would probably like this presentation

My first instinct for how to use this...

You ask a participant if there's ever been anyone she wished she could use a voodoo doll against. When she says yes, you hand her a large pad of paper, turn your back, and ask her to pick any spot on the page and write that person's first name on that spot. When she's done that, you ask her to write down four other random first names on other parts of the page. So there end up being five names written at random spots, one of which is the person who wronged the spec, but only she knows which one that is.

You take the pad back and draw a simple voodoo doll next to each of the names, then stick a pin into each of the dolls. After explaining that a physical doll is only a focal point for her mental energy and so forth, you hand her the pad and pen, haver her grip the pen like a knife, and ask her to put the pen down on the pad and start moving it in a small circle – but as she does, she's to imagine that she's twisting a knife into a voodoo doll of the person who wronged her. When she does, the pins in the dolls by the four random names stay still, but the one by the person who wronged her (which, remember, she's never revealed) moves to follow the path she's tracing.

This requires a little more preparation, but the results of my initial tests are promising.

Additional thought off the top of my head: you could instruct her to close her eyes while she does this, and to keep them closed no matter how she hears other people reacting. When she does, she'll hear everyone freaking out but she won't know why. Then have her stop and open her eyes, and say to the rest of the audience, "If you could tell which name she was focusing on by what just happened, say that name out loud on the count of three." The spec will then get the shock of hearing the audience reveal who she was thinking of.

From there you could have her do it again with her eyes open and share in the weirdness. Or you could make a slight adjustment and have her try it again, but this time nothing happens. You explain that that's not uncommon, because that initial burst of pure emotion is hard to replicate a second time. So she's left with a bit of mystery and a story from her friends that she can either believe or not.

Wow, Lewis! What an awesome concept of using the pad and using the ESP symbols for the movement. That is first-class close-up mentalism. How wonderful of you to share it with is. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much Unmasked Magician!

This might be overkill and I have not tried it yet, but after my presentation you could use Jason Palter's Psionic gimmick, and say that due to the collective efforts of the group, the pin is now charged with the energy of their thought, and remove the pin, holding it between your thumb and index finger for a few moments before dropping it to the table and shaking your hand in pain a little, then show the ESP symbol blistered on your finger.

Ha! That might be a really spooky ending