Editor’s Note: This is an idea contributed by a friend of the site, giving our two writers a break.
I’m a big fan of the 10S Star Sign Divination, by Olivier Boës. It’s the only star sign divination I use, and I love using it whenever somebody tries guessing my sign. A lot of people have trouble with justifying having them name some star signs to start with, and here’s what I do about that.
Let me get something very clear to start with. The process should be distant from the reveal.
Let me explain what I mean. First, if you are doing more than the basic method (such as CUPs), you should not do the whole process in one go, because besides making the method more transparent, it will make it much harder to naturally justify. Second, you should not reveal the sign as soon as you know it. Backtrack a little, act like you’re having trouble, do some palm reading, ANYTHING but simply revealing the sign.
So, how do we script this, and how do we naturally justify these things? Read on to find out. At a place where the method for 10S Star Sign Divination could be revealed, I will replace the text with [redacted].
First, they’ve asked you what star sign you are. Usually, they’ll make a guess, confidently or less confidently. Let’s say they guess A.
“You know,” you say, with a knowing smile. “It’s funny, but I have a theory about how to guess a star sign. I’ll show you. Here, say some random star signs out loud right now, maybe [redacted].”
They name X, Y and Z.
“See? That’s what I’m talking about,” you say encouragingly. “You got it completely wrong off the bat, I’m not an A, but I am a Y! Okay, but don’t tell me your sign. I want to test another theory.”
At this point, you can make a stab at a letter if desired to disambiguate. They answer yes or no. Or, use Michael Murray’s CUPs principle as recommended by Olivier. If you’re trusting in a direct hit as in the original handling, and not worrying about “end cases”, disregard this. For obvious reasons, you should claim to be a Y, that is, the second sign they name.
Once you’re fairly confident you know their sign, say that this isn’t working, and you don’t really know. (Or just trust in a direct hit.) Then you go into something else. It could be palm reading, it could be tea leaf reading, it could be an intense mindmelding staring match between the two of you.
After this, of course, you say that it’s worked, and reveal their sign.
This destroys people’s ability to figure it out. Nobody can backtrack it like they might otherwise. The naming of the star signs feels like something from another trick entirely, that this one was a sequel to.
The other night I did this for somebody and in the end she said “But you didn’t even ask any questions! You just read my palm, that was real!”
No, but it certainly felt real to her.
Enjoy. And pick up 10S Star Sign Divination if you haven’t! I don’t know why you would still be reading this blog post if you haven’t, it probably made no sense, but pick it up anyway.