Spiral Principle and Beyond
Leathwaite, Stephen
Wizard FX Productions
The Spiral Principle is a new concept in magic that allows you to perform miracles with a borrowed deck of cards. Imagine having a spectator shuffle, freely select a card then lose it back into the deck. Without doing anything you instantly know what their card is and it's location in the deck. Included on the DVD are 5 killer effects that would not be possible without the spiral principle including N.A.C, a hands off ACAAN with a twist that you have to see to believe. Once you learn The Spiral Principle your card magic will NEVER be the same again.
Beyond
Beyond is the most stunning 'Out Of This World' you will ever see. Imagine showing a mixed up deck of cards and then having two audience members separate the red's from the black's without ever looking at the faces. The performer NEVER touches the cards and the whole routine is self working.
- No packet switches
- No Rough and Smooth
- Uses a regular deck - No gimmicks
- The magician genuinely never touches the deck
- Very easy to do
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Over the years and over the reviews I've seen a lot of crap and a lot of awesome. I've seen improvements on old ideas, and I've seen the degrading of old ideas. After watching this video, all I can say is that it's Gettin' Better (Thank you Tesla).
The Spiral Principle is an idea inspired by David Regal. It's an improvement in many ways, and I think that even David Regal (though I don't know for sure) would agree with me on this. Read the ad copy and/or watch the trailer. It sounds too good to be true, but everything said is 100% true. Using a borrowed deck that is shuffled (both riffle shuffled AND overhand shuffled) before and after the card is selected and put back into the deck. You aren't even looking . . . in fact, you can be in the other room. There are no key cards, no gimmicks, no marked cards . . . again, the decks is normal and borrowed. Yet you are able to know what card was selected and reveal it in any number of amazing ways.
If you like the effect - I Do - you'll love this DVD. But wait . . . there's more (Thank you Ginsu Knives). In addition to learning about a half-dozen effects you can do with the Spiral Principle (plus you're imagination, likely, will go wild with your own ideas), you'll get the bonus effect Beyond which could be The Best version of Paul Curry's Out of This World.
Let's look at the (forgive the term) weaknesses of the original plot:
- You can't show the faces of the cards before you begin
- There's an awkwardly-timed switch required
- You have to mentally count and keep track of where things are during the procedure
Those are the main ones, in my opinion. Leathwaite's version solves all of these issues. Before the effect begins, you clearly show the faces of the cards to be in no particular order. The "dealing procedure" is completely done by the spectators. You NEVER touch the deck once they start dealing. You can be in another room once they start dealing. At the end, they have clearly separated the reds from the blacks, and the best part . . . they turn over the cards to reveal it themselves. You don't touch the cards. You don't have to do any switches or anything. It's very clean and very magical and has inspired me to add this effect back into my repertoire.
For $30 bucks you're getting one incredible principle that has unlimited application, and one amazing effect that is incredibly impossible seeming. Production quality, etc. is all fine. The only complaint I had really was the Craig Petty, on several occasions, seemed a bit controlling and would constantly interrupt and take the cards from Stephen Leathwaite. I'm sure he was just trying to help, but it came across as pretty rude. I only mention this because it was a little irritating to watch at times.
Even if I did not like the effects, I cannot deny the impact they had on his audiences, and I cannot deny the versatility of the Spiral Principle and its many applications. That being said . . .
Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of Complete and Total GEM.