Rituals are actions that support the deepening of our spiritual and emotional connections.
It is known by modern Psychology that we are, as human beings, ritualistic by nature.
It doesnt matter if you have conscious awareness of your spiritual self, if you practice any religion, you will always believe something and that belief will move rituals.
Meditation, washing your face everyday, morning praying, taking your coffee. Everything can move you in knowing that you are following your normality.
So, whats the true power of a ritual in Mentalism?
In my opinion, being able to structure rituals in your routines and acts is fundamental to convey a proper realism in your Mentalism. Something so simple as taking some moments of eye-to-eye gazing with your participant is powerful to change the mood in your performance.
Something so simple as letting the participant just contemplate the pendulum for a moment before a pendulum experience, can be the best suggestion ever.
A ritual is not only applicable if you tend to go to more psychic dynamics, but if you enjoy the psychological performance, you can for example use a calibration before you "lie detection", which not only offers credibility (NLP practitioners knows that this is imperative to create a base in each subject) but also offers a short ritual that moves this inherent human need of a ritual.
As you can see, is not that hard at all, but the changes that can create in your performance are huge.
Banachek has this now classic concept that he calls the "Old Witchdoctor" in his PS1, which also alludes to the power of rituals.
The mystery of the ritual comes AFTER the experience, and believe me, if you use rituals in your performance, people will believe in whatever your offer.
What are your offering?
CONVERSATION