Turn Colombini's Magnetic
into 'holy' performance

Aldo Colombini's Magnetic effect is what I consider a simplified variation of Paul Curry's Out of this World. It is a red/black divide effect with a deck of cards, and it includes a nice twist.

The gist of the routine is two specators each select a card. They return the cards to the deck. The magician divides the deck into two, and cuts each half into four sections. When he is finished, he has eight small packets on the table. He turns half of them face up and proceeds to shuffle the packets together, two by two, until he is back to one deck with cards face up and face down.

When the cards are spread, all of the black cards are now face up, except for one red card, and it proves to be one of the selected cards. The deck is flipped over and spread out again, and this time all of the red cards are face up except for one black card, and this is confirmed to be the other spectator's card.

I decided to use this effect in a card magic show I put together for a men's ministry gathering. The fellows were coming together to enjoy some fellowship, pizza and card games, like euchre. The host asked if I would perform card magic for the occasion.

I opened with Magnetic because it involved some set up. Once the piece was done, I could shuffle the cards together and move on to the next effect. Because this show would be for men involved in a ministry, I wanted it to have a Christian theme. I thought about what was being accomplished and what Biblical teaching or truth could it represent.

I settled on the idea of being holy. I asked my two helpers if they knew what the word "holy" meant. They gave me some definitions associated with the modern understanding of the word, but I told them it originally referred to being seperate or set apart. I then informed them they were going to take a test to determine if they are holy or not.

So, when cards are cut, shuffled and spread, the result is all of the black cards are face up except for one read and vice versa. When the odd cards are confirmed to the selected cards, I congratulate my helpers for being holy men.

You could also adapt the presentation to teach the youth a lesson about standing up for what is right, even if it means being the only one. You can commend them for standing up for what is right even when others fall back.

I followed up Magnetic with Ken de Courcy's Bamboozle (aka The Nine Card Trick), a Bob King Four Ace routine utilizing his famous addition to a card, an Ambitious Card routine, Richard Osterlind's Corinda Effect and Card Calling, Colombini's Pre-Deck Ability (one of my all-time favorite effects) and a double prediction Dan Stapleton taught me at the Combined Convention.

You can watch Aldo Colombini perform Magnetic in the video below.