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Are you interested in reading minds? Mind reading is a fascinating art. With some mentalism tricks, you can learn to read minds with ease! We will explore easy mind-reading tricks that will help you understand your friends and family better than ever before.

Mind reading tricks easy? In this article, we'll be discussing 10 different techniques that can help you read minds. These tricks have been used by mentalists for decades as a way to amaze an audience.

10 Easy Mind Reading Tricks Using Mentalism

Many say that mentalists are magicians. Even though mentalism falls into the category of magic, these two arts are significantly different. Magicians often use mentalism in their acts, most mentalists will not claim to be magicians. John Finch points out; “Magic is doing and mentalism is knowing.”

There are tricks that the mentalist uses to perform mind-reading acts. These practices involve:

  • Studying the self to gain awareness
  • Learning to use intuition:
  • Studying other people
  • Studying human psychology

The magician entertains the audience by tricking the eyes and making them believe they are witnessing something that cannot physically happen. The mentalist on the other hand is trained in the ability to read the audience and connect with them in improbable ways.

So, how does the mentalist know what they shouldn’t be able to know? Let’s look at how the mentalist reads minds and how they are able to do so.

The Mind-Reading Mentalist Studies the Self 

One of the first and most important things a mentalist does is to get in touch with themselves. By paying attention to how they feel, and examining their own facial expressions, and posture they begin to get a sense of who they are.

Ways to study yourself may include:

  • Looking at yourself in a mirror throughout the day and making a note of how you are feeling before, during, and after studying your expressions.
  • Pay attention to your physical responses to your feelings. For example, how does your posture change when you are happy, sad, tired, etcetera?
  • Keep journals and talk about events or dreams and how they make you feel. Contemplate why you have the emotions you do.
  • Talk with a trusted friend, and share your feelings with them. 

This is important because knowing who you are and how you respond to external and internal stimulation, helps you understand others on deeper levels. Since you wish to read minds, it is imperative that you first examine your own sense of self.

The Mentalist uses Intuition to Read Minds

Part of knowing yourself is listening to your intuition. Intuition is known as our sixth sense. It is through this heightened sense that people are thought to possess special abilities. The truth is that anyone can tap into their intuition. 

The mentalist uses their inner knowing every day, making it easy for them to know what they shouldn’t be able to know. It’s more about being aware of everything around you and within you than having “special abilities.”

There are different facets of intuition. The mentalist may use:

  • Clairsentience
  • Clairvoyance
  • Clairaudience
  • Claircognizance

These are all forms of intuition. Everyone has intuition, they have just been taught to push it aside, or ignore that part of themselves. This is why we find it so fascinating when we meet someone who has a highly developed sense of awareness.

The Art of Seeing Scenes -Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is when a person gets an image in their minds. This can be of a 

  • Person
  • Place, or 
  • Thing

A common trick of the mentalist is to get an entire audience to see a certain image in their heads. This is truly an old trick, and easy to accomplish with either props or hand gestures. 

This math trick is a great example. It is called the “Grey Elephant in Denmark.” The way it is done is to have your guests choose a number between one and ten. Then have them multiply their number by nine. Now tell the audience that if they have a double-digit number to add the digits together.

After they have a single digit again, have the audience subtract five from their number. The answer will be the number four. After this, have the audience pick a corresponding letter to their answer. This will be D. Have your audience then choose a country that begins with their letter.

Once done, ask the group to think of a name of an animal that begins with the second letter in the name of the country they chose. Now ask them if they all ended up with an elephant in Denmark. The majority of the group will say they did. Did the whole room just read the mentalist’s mind? 

The Art of Reading Objects- Clairsentience

The art of reading objects is called clairsentience. When a mentalist asks an audience member if they may hold a personal object, or touch the person in some way, they are practicing clairsentience.

Clairsentience, Also known as Psychometry, means “clear feeling” and it is the ability to read energy. In other words, a mentalist who uses clairsentience is able to sense energies in objects and people.

How does the mentalist use Clairsentience to read minds? Unlike clairvoyance, which involves seeing a vision of the future or remote events; clairsentience is used to detect energy information emanating from an object or person located nearby. 

For example, the mentalist may notice a heaviness to the air, and when observing individuals in the area, notice that their faces show discontent, and their bodies are rigid. The people may be clenching their fists, and holding their jaws taunt. 

The mentalist would know there was some disagreement, or argument, that transpired prior to walking into the area. For the performing mentalist, being able to “read the room” helps them have a reliable outcome for their performance.

The Art of Hearing Beyond- Clairaudience

Clairaudience is the ability to hear what others are unable to hear. The mentalist who uses clairaudience in their acts will often claim psychic abilities. There are many ways clairaudience can be used in a stage setting. 

Take for example the psychic/mentalist:

The mentalist may say that they hear a message for someone with a first name that starts with B, and that this person is female. Then with pained concentration, they’ll quickly rattle off a few names that begin with B. 

All the while they are observing and listening to their audience. Chances are, someone will have a name they have rattled off. This person either says something aloud like, “That’s me!” or their facial expressions and movements say it for them.

The mentalist will approach the audience member and ask a few quick questions. The audience member replies, now completely caught up in the act. 

Before anyone is the wiser, the mentalist has gleaned a ton of information and is able to give the message to the audience member along with who it is from.

In the mentalist's arsenal of tricks, clairaudience can be used for entertainment purposes. The mentalist might use their knowledge of body language and other clues to be able to give messages from beyond. 

Everyone is astounded, yet all the mentalist did was toss a few words out to the audience, observe, and respond. 

Did the mentalist have a message from beyond? Were they mentally connected to the audience member? Most likely this was not the case. Yet the audience is thrilled by the uncanniness of the event.

The Art of Knowing- Claircognizance

Claircognizance means clear knowing.  A person with true claircognizance will demonstrate this with things like abruptly finishing sentences before the original speaker is able to. Somehow, they just “know” things.

They receive information from an unknown source. This information is not necessarily heard, it’s just suddenly and undeniably there. This often prompts the individual to speak the invading thought out loud.

The mentalist performer will use tricks of claircognizance to get the audience to believe he is able to receive unknown information. For this trick the mentalist may have an accomplice that poses as an audience member.

The mentalist and accomplice practice the routine before going on stage.. Let’s say the mentalist suddenly has a name in his head- this would be his accomplice’s name. The mentalist then begins to repeat aloud the information. 

The “astonished” accomplice pulls out a note written by another person, to them. They wonder aloud, “How did you know that?” and the mentalist shrugs it off and says, these things just come to me. 

To the audience it appears the accomplice and metalist do not know one another. The event is portrayed in such a way that it doesn’t seem part of the act. The event seems completely random. 

The Art of Telepathy

Telepathy is when two people are able to communicate using only their thoughts. To hear of someone experiencing a telepathic communication they will often say they heard the other person's voice as though the other person spoke out loud.

Because most people have not experienced this phenomena, it is easy for the performing mentalist to mimic a telepathic connection with an audience member. For this trick the mentalist will be the receiver and the audience member would be the sender of the message.

Magic Secrets Revealed explains that this trick requires accomplices and props. You will need:

  • Two accomplices
  • A chalkboard on wheels with a hidden compartment
  • A concealing drape
  • A small hand-held chalkboard
  • A hidden camera and monitor

The mentalist has assistants wheel out a large chalkboard. The mentalist chooses a “random” member from the audience. This person is actually in on the act. He gives the chosen person the small chalkboard and instructs them to write or draw something on the board.

The veil is lifted to hide the large chalkboard. The mentalist makes motions in the air directed at the hidden board. All the while the second accomplice is hiding in the compartment of the chalkboard. As the first accomplice writes or draws, a camera is trained on the small chalkboard and a hidden monitor shows the hidden accomplice what is being done.

The hidden accomplice carefully climbs out of the compartment and copies what is written on the small board. She then climbs back into the compartment. The curtain is dropped and the large chalkboard reveals the message written on the hand-held board.

This would be simple enough to perform without a camera too. One could use an actual, unsuspecting, audience member and the camera/ monitor set up to make the trick that much more impressive.

The Mentalist Studies Their Subjects to Read Minds

For the mentalist, it becomes second nature to observe and study the people around them. This is because people share a lot about themselves without ever speaking a word. People have a tendency to show their emotions through body language. 

The Mentalist Reads Body Language

The mentalist studies body language. They are looking for clues about the person or people they are interacting with, such as: 

  • Subtle facial expressions
  • Eye movements 
  • Gestures provide clues into the minds of others. 
  • Tone of voice

A good mentalist can catch subtle clues that the average person misses. The mentalist is familiar with human emotions and body language. They have studied themselves and others with intensity and curiosity.

Being able to comprehend the slightest twitch a person makes in a split second gives the mentalist a huge advantage. The mentalist may use body language to mind-read by watching for an audience member who unconsciously, and silently, mouths a response to a question.

Let’s return to the psychic mentalist act. In that act, the audience member is found while the mentalist says they have a message for someone whose name starts with a B. As the magician scans the group he sees one person silently mouth, “Barbara.”

The mentalist approaches the audience member and asks, “Are you, Barbara?” Surprised, the unsuspecting audience member replies that it is correct. The mentalist has found an easy-to-read subject and will be able to convincingly continue to read her mind.

The Mind Reading Mentalist uses Psychology

The mind reader is curious about people and how they feel, move and act. The mentalist will watch and listen intently to others. Their curiosity about human behavior will most certainly have them learning about psychology.

When a deep psychological understanding of how people react to certain stimuli it becomes much easier for the mentalist to read others. Psychologically the mentalist may employ traits of 

  • Empathy
  • Sympathy
  • Mimicry
  • Interest

By understanding and using these forms of psychology, the mentalist is able to quickly form a trusting relationship with their audience. If they are able to say the name of the person they are working with, it becomes even more personal. 

One of the first things a mentalist will do is ask the guest what their name is. To help them remember, they may introduce the individual to the rest of the audience. Hearing their name brings the individual comfort, and helps them feel closer to the mentalist.

The mentalist may also subtly mimic the body language of their guest. Without realizing it, the individual feels comfortable. The rest of the audience may have a sense of familiarity as they watch. 

The closeness provides the mentalist with a better vantage point. They will be better able to hear very quiet whispers as well as see some of those tiny facial movements. 

Another way that mentalists use psychology in their mind-reading acts is through “confirmation bias.” This is where the mentalist uses a form of programming of the audience. As an example, we will use a number that we want the audience to think of. Let’s say our number is eight.

We may give subtle clues to the audience by talking about things we associate with the number eight. These could be:

  • Spiders
  • Octopus
  • The infinity symbol
  • Using a homophone in conversation, such as, ate: “I just ate before coming here. I ordered the octopus… While I was eating this huge spider ran across the table. It startled me really bad. I’m still a bit shaken and will see that spider running across the table for infinity!”
  • Shapes like the octagon, and more
  • Say things in groups of eight

Subconsciously the audience will pick up on these subtle images of the number eight. When eventually asked what number they are thinking of, the majority should proclaim the intended number. The audience believes there was some amazing feat of psychic energy.

Mind-Reading Tricks Using Mentalism

The tricks behind mind-reading require the mentalist to have a deep curiosity and thus, an understanding of how people think, act, and behave.

Sometimes props and accomplices have been used in mentalism mind-reading tricks. However, to be convincing, the mentalist must demonstrate empathy and compassion to the audience. The mentalist must also have an understanding of human nature and be able to read people in order to successfully connect with them.

Through studying human psychology and various acts, then applying that new knowledge to your daily life, you will eventually, and convincingly be able to read the minds of the people around you.