Penultimate by Syd Bergson

Here is an entertaining mystery that ties in with the popular inter- est in Astrology. It may be performed with one person or more; our own preference is to have three members of the audience take part in the demonstration.

EFFECT: After a brief introductory statement dealing with the pur-. ported influences the planets exercise on people, the participants are handed white vinyl cards and opaque envelopes. While his back is turned, the performer instructs each participant to secretly write his birth date on a card with a Listo pencil and seal it in an envelope which he leaves on a table before returning to his seat. Facing around, performer picks up an envelope at random and orally delivers a short ‘astrological reading that he says, is applicable only to the unknown participant whose envelope he is holding.

Without doing anything else, the performer boldly writes a birth date on the envelope and, directly hands it to the rightful participant for verification and of course, examination. He correctly does the same with the remaining envelopes.

In addition to having divined the birth dates, the performer proves that he also knows to whom each belong. As with all tricks having a strong impact on the audience, the plot for this is simple to follow, easy to perform and, unexplainable to the audience.