Marucci's Bizarre Bazaar

The Devil's Wand
by Peter Marucci

Effect: One spectator chooses a Tarot card and another one reveals it.

Preparation: You’ll need a one-way forcing deck, with 48 cards the same (the Devil) and four cards different, on the bottom (face) of the deck. You’ll also need a large picture of the Devil card, rolled up and inserted in a black tube, so that it looks like a magic wand.

Presentation: “There are those who believe that a deck of Tarot cards can reveal the unknown, show things that are hidden to us, point a direction that we may be taking unwittingly.

“As a test of this power, let us use this deck of Tarot cards (show the deck and spread two or three cards from the face) and this magician’s wand.”

To one spectator: “Would you please hold this magic wand?” To another spectator: “And would you select one of these Tarot cards, looking at it and showing it to everyone except me and (Mary, say, who is holding the wand).”

Force the Devil card on Spectator 2; she looks at it and shows it to everyone except you and Spectator 1.

“Now, I ask you to concentrate on the name of the card and try to send that thought to Mary.

“Mary, hold up the wand as a receptor and see if you can receive the thought that is being sent to you. (Pause) Do you sense anything at this time?”

When she says ‘no’, look at the wand; if she does not react, tap the scroll inside the tube so that it sticks out even further from one end. Eventually, she will get the idea and focus on the wand and, specifically, the scroll in the tube.

“Mary, draw the scroll from the tube.” When she does so, but before she unrolls it, turns to Spectator 2: “And would you please tell us what is the name of the Tarot card that you selected?”

When Spectator 2 announces that it was the Devil, have Mary unroll the scroll and show it to the group.

It is, of course, a large rendering of the Devil card.

Second Thoughts: The presentation here is rather skimpy since there are many, many ways in which you can go: A brief history of the Tarot deck, a reading of the card after it is revealed, statements on the power of the mind, the connection between two people who may know each other, and so on.

The deck is made up of about 48 Devil cards and four indifferent Tarot cards on the face. You could buy 48 Tarot decks and take the Devil card out of each one, making up the deck. But that would be far too expensive and wasteful; an easier and cheaper way is to take one Devil card and scan it in your computer; then print out the number of pictures you want (about four dozen) and paste them on the faces of a blank deck; also print out four other Tarot cards and paste them, one on each, on four other cards.

Then blow up the Devil card to the maximum page size and print that out once. Roll it up and, leaving about an inch of white at each end, slide it into a black, plastic tube, making a wand. You may want to paste or otherwise stick some sort of rods to the top and bottom of the large Devil scroll, to make rolling and, particularly, unrolling easier; this also makes the scroll easier to display to the rest of the audience.

After the card has been revealed, you can give a quick, one-card reading for Spectator 1: The Devil card symbolizes the material over the spiritual side of a person, indicating that they are, or may be, allowing worldly things to smother their higher nature. While the card looks dramatic, it can be interpreted fairly innocently.

This should be played fairly heavily, since you want your audience to believe, or at least suspect, that you are treading in the area of unseen, powerful forces.

Enjoy!

Peter Marucci