The first thing you need is a set of cards. I prefer for the two losing cards to be identical, for example, both the four of clubs.
This prevents an astute spectator from noticing that you are showing him the same card twice at a certain point in the routine.

Next, you need to bend the cards. They are bent lengthwise, so that the backs are convex. When resting on the table, the long edges should rest flat against the table, and the middle of the short edges are about half an inch above the table. You also want to prebend the outer right and inner left hand corners of all three cards.. During the routine, you will bend the winning card in order to make it seem easier to follow. You later remove the bend from the winner and bend a loser. Having the corners prebent makes the bending easier and insures that the bends will look exactly the same in all three cards. I prefer to put both bends in while all three cards are still in a packet.

	Putting in the lengthwise bend.
	Prebending the corners.
	The cards face up.
	The cards face down.

The basic idea behind the throw is that you hold two cards in your right hand and one card in your left. You toss the lower right hand card onto the table, then the left hand card, and then the remaining right hand card. The thing is, when you are ready to spring the trap, instead of tossing the lower card, you toss the upper card first.


To do the fair throw, pick up a loser between your right thumb and second finger, at the ends. Then pick up the winner, right below the loser, with the thumb and third finger. Make sure the left long edges of the two cards are touching. Pick up the other loser with your left hand between the thumb and second finger. Turn both hands palm up to show the cards. Turn the right hand palm down, as you move it to the left, and then stop it suddenly as you release the lower card with your right third finger. Now toss the left hand card far to the right of the winner that you just tossed down, and finally toss the remaining card in the right hand between the two cards on the table.
To do the fake throw, pick the cards up as before, but when you make the first toss, let go with your right second finger, and immediately grab the lower card with the second finger, straightening out the third finger. This should look exactly like the real throw.
A few points: Do NOT pull the right hand back to the right as you toss the card. It should stop, like it would normally if you were to toss something onto the table. For both the fair and the fake throw, the toss should be part of the same motion as turning your hand palm downward. Some magicians prefer to use cards with an all over back pattern, such as Bee cards, in order to hide the move even further.
So much for the throw. Now, for the bent corner move. Start by bending the corner on the winner. Pick up a loser in the right hand, and show its face. Turn the right hand palm down, and pick up the other loser in the left hand. As you show its face, the right little finger pulls up on the corner of the loser the right hand is holding, while the right third finger pushes down on the back of the card. This puts a duplicate bend in the loser.


Pick up the winner with the right hand and show it. Do a fair toss. Pick up the winner with the left hand, show it, and toss it back on the table fairly again. This lets the spectators get a good look at the bent corner, both from the face and the back of the card. Now, pick the winner up with the right hand again, show it, and make the fake toss to the left.
There is now a loser on the table with a bent corner, and a winner in your right hand with a bent corner. Toss the left hand card to the right, and as you do so, straighten out the corner of the winner by pulling up on the edge of the card with the right third finger while you push down on the corner with the right little finger.


...and finally, drop the winner in the middle.
And at last, on to the trick.
Phase one : Begin by showing the cards and explaining the game. Do a fair throw, mix the cards on the table slowly, and then turn over the winner. Do this a few times. Without any warning or any change in your pace or handling, do a fake throw and mix the cards slowly on the table. Point to the actual winner, and say something like "You saw it end up over here, right?" They will, of course, disagree with you. Turn it up.
Phase two : Immediately say something like "That's okay! You see, most people, if they see the card go over here," Pick up a loser and the winner in your right hand, and fake throw to the left as you say "here". "figure that as long as they don't bet on either of these cards," pick up the other loser under the winner you are now holding in your right hand. Apparently the winner is to the left and you are holding the two losers. As you say "either of these cards" turn over your right hand to show the lower card (the loser), fake throw to the middle, and then turn your right hand over again to show the same loser again, and drop it to the right.
You have, apparently, tossed the winner to the left, and then shown the two losers to be in the middle and to the right. "The thing is" pick up the middle card, the winner, with the right hand, and then the one to the left, which they think is the winner. "when they bet on this card, they lose." Turn over the right hand to show the loser. Fake throw to the left. "It's only when you bet on this card" flip the card in your right hand face up "or this one" use the card you're holding to flip over the loser on the table to the right "that this one's ever going to be the winner." Drop the card you're holding face up, and then turn over the winner.
Phase three : Pick up the winner in your right hand. Use it to point to the two losers which are face up on the table, saying something like "You don't want either of these two cards, you want this one." As you point to the losers, press the corner of the winner down against them, bending it.


As you say "this", hold the winner up so that the spectators see the bend edge on. Make sure they see it! Drop the winner face down, turn down the losers, and do the bend corner switch described above. After doing this, you have a loser to your left with a bent corner, which they think is the winner, the winner in the middle, and another loser to the right.
Now, pick up the loser on the right with your right hand, and the one with the bent corner on the left with your left hand. Hold your right hand still as you sweep your left hand over and drop the card with the bent corner to the right. As you make this sweep, glance up at your audience and you should see everyone's head move as they follow the card they think is the money card.
Any magicians or just really smart people who are staring at the center card will not move their head. Pick someone who is following the card with the bent corner during this brief upward glance. After you drop the bent card to the right, pick up the middle card and drop it to the left with your left hand, and finally drop the card in your right hand in the middle. The winner is now on the left, the loser with the bent corner is on your right, and you have an audience member in mind who is following the card with the bent corner.
Address this audience member and ask them which card appears to be the winner. When they point to the one with the bent corner, say "That's absolutely correct, and that's the one most people would bet on." Turn it over.
There are several fine points in the routine above which I think are worth discussing in detail. The moves for phase two are entirely Vernon's, but the patter is mine, and I carefully constructed it to imply that the monte dealer, and by extension, the magician, can cause the card you point to to simply be a loser, without any funny business. The stated message of "If you pick this one, it won't be the winner, but if you pick one of the other ones, it will be." implies that I have some supernatural power to make their card be a loser just because they pointed to it.
The idea of watching the spectators to see which card they are following is not one I have ever seen described before, but it seems simple enough that it can't be new. When I was a kid and tossed three card monte for my friends I would keep doing fake and real throws until I knew they were following the wrong card (my fake throw wasn't very good... sometimes I went for a minute or two before asking them which one was the winner...). Many magicians simply point to the card with the bent corner and say something like "most people would bet here", in order to eliminate the risk that an audience member might point to the wrong card and mess you up. Personally, I think it is more effective if a spectator points out the card, but I still don't want to take any chances.
Watching their heads gives me the best of both worlds. Of course, if you have practiced enough, you should have every head turning to follow the bent corner. If you regularly have people in your audience who don't, you need to practice more. When you ask the spectator to point out the card, asking them to tell you which one appears to be the winner gives them permission to select a loser, and causes them not to take the selection as seriously as they might if you asked them to point out the winner.
They know that they won't look stupid if they choose a loser, and so they aren't so worried about it. Immediately telling them "That's correct." tells them that they pointed to the correct card, and did their job correctly. That way they don't feel "tricked in a bad way" when you show that they got fooled. Three card monte is one of the great card tricks you can learn.

Fundamental Topics of Magic

Fundamental Topics in the Study of Magic Because the study of magic is such a vast area of study, we break it down into seven separate areas of study for your convenience. Each of these areas is discussed in further detail in later sections. The Four Elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth Hand Magic and Self Defense Basic Magical Tools: Firebowl, Wand, Athame, Chalice and Plate Divination Tarot Sonics Spellwork Return to main article "How to Study Magic" The Four Elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth There are many paths to developing magical and shamanic abilities. At the foundation of all these paths, though, is an understanding of the four elements of magic: air, fire, water and earth. One of the basic tenets of magical studies is that everything in this Universe is made up of some combination of these four elements, and if you understand and know how to work with these elements, you can understand (and create) anything you desire. That's why four element magic is the first area of study for our apprentices - it is at the heart of everything in the Universe, including magical powers and abilities. For instance, you can develop clairvoyance and telepathy, which is access to knowledge not available to the five senses, by developing and working with your water element. Water, being the language of Spirit, allows you to access almost any information (or emotions) at a Spiritual level. Another ability, levitation, is the result of increasing your air element and decreasing your earth element. And telekinesis is the ability to channel your fire energy toward a specific object. For instance, we teach our students to begin using their telekinetic ability by throwing firebolts at a candle flame. They know they have begun to develop that ability when they can make the flame jump and split by pointing their finger at it. Beyond the development of these psychic or magical abilities, however, the four elements help us develop and follow our birth visions, listen to our Spirit guidance, and generally live more creative and peaceful lives. By understanding the basic "makeup" and laws that drive our Universe, we can learn to go with the flow rather than swim upstream. This is the true benefit of four element magic. Is the development of magical abilities great fun? Absolutely! It's useful, too, for self-defense, personal power and more. But it's also the beginning of a deep understanding of the driving forces of life. It's a strong first step onto the path of direct knowledge and spiritual scientism. When the shamans were kicked out of the tribe centuries ago, the world lost access to such direct knowledge. Now we need the shamans more than ever, and we invite you to step on this path by studying the four elements of magic! To study the four elements, Click HERE for the Four Element Courses. Click here to study more about the Element Air. Click HERE to study more about the Element Fire. Click HERE to study more about the Element Water. Click HERE to study more about the Element Earth. Back to the Top of the Page Hand Magic and Self Defense As magicians, it's important to study the area of self-defense carefully since we have considerable power and force. The inappropriate use of that power and force can cause Universal backlash. We must be especially careful to control our tempers and not use our abilities reactively. According to Western magical practice, "You have a right to be here and follow your own path so long as you hinder no one else in doing likewise." This foundational principle asserts our right to exist and follow our own path and by extension, our right to defend ourselves against those who might seek to prevent us from walking our path. As you grow in magical ability, you will inevitably attract beings on different levels that seek to interfere with your path in some way. Writer Clarissa Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, so accurately states, "If you have beauty in your life, know that it will attract the dark as well as the light. Don't be surprised. Be prepared." Here's a good rule of thumb to use when it comes to self-defense: "In cases of direct and violent personal harm you are entitled to defend yourself by any means available, provided you did nothing to encourage or provoke the attack." To study magical self defense, check out the Magical Self Defense Course. Back to the Top of the Page Basic Magical Tools Firebowl, Wand, Athame, Chalice and Plate Firebowl Throughout history almost every spiritual, magical and religious system on earth has used the Firebowl (sometimes called a "thurible"). While it has primarily been used for cleansing and purification of areas, people and objects, the Firebowl can also be used as an aid to meditation or divination. To find out more about the how the Firebowl is used for magical purposes... Learn more about the Firebowl Learn more about our Firebowl ebook Order our Firebowl ebook Wand As Magicians, we use the Wand as an extension of our own energies. Contrary to much of the popular literature, the Wand is an Air tool and not a Fire tool, meaning it can handle only Air energies. Like the tools for the other three elements, the Wand magnifies our "reach" since it can handle more air energies than we can with our hands. The Wand is a great tool to start with since it can't do as much damage as other tools, such as the Athame (magical knife). The Wand allows beginners to practice many techniques that more advanced magicians would do barehanded, or with an Athame. Magicians and shamans use the Wand for communication, healing and shielding. Unlike what is portrayed in Harry Potter movies, the Wand is only one of many magical tools, and can only handle air energies. Throwing lightning bolts or other types of fire energy through your Wand will cause it catch fire! To find out more about the Wand, how to make a Wand, how to store and protect your Wand, how to personalize your Wand so only you can use it, and how to use a Wand for magical and shamanic purposes. Learn more about the Wand Learn more about our Wand ebook Order our Wand ebook Athame Like the other magical tools, we use the Athame to extend our own energies and magnify power. The Athame is the magical tool of the Fire element. Many of the magical procedures performed with the Wand in Harry Potter movies should actually be performed with the Athame, which easily handles all color bands of Fire energy. The Athame is commonly used by magicians for firebolts, lightning bolts, shielding, healing, banishments and self defense. It is also used to create sacred space and full cast circles for ritual. Like other tools, your Athame should be "keyed" or personalized to your own energies, so that only you can use it. To find out how to select, key, store, protect and use your Athame for magical and shamanic purposes. Learn more about the Athame Learn more about our Athame ebook Order our Athame ebook Chalice The Chalice is the tool of the Water element, and Water is the language of Spirit, so the Chalice could properly be said to be the tool of communication with Spirit. Magicians and shamans use the Chalice for scrying, divination, psychic communication, healing, creating sacred space, purification, ceremony, ritual and blessing.Unknown to most, the Chalice is also effective for self-defense against certain kinds of entities, and can be used with the Plate (the Earth element tool) for shielding and protection. Like the other magical tools, your Chalice should be properly selected and keyed to your own energies. To find out how to select, key, store, protect and use your Chalice for magical and shamanic purposes. Learn more about the Chalice Learn more about our Chalice ebook Order our Chalice ebook Plate The tool of the Earth element, the Plate is a magical tool commonly used for shielding, healing, protection and self-defense. Also known as the "pantacle," the Plate is a powerful healing tool, capable of knitting and healing broken bones in a matter of hours. The Plate is often used in conjunction with other magical tools for protection and shielding, such as during Tarot readings, divination or scrying. The Plate can also protect and shield magical tools, such as Tarot decks and pendulums, when they are not in use. To find out how to select, key, protect and use your Plate magically.