Luca Volpe

In fact , seconds ago he just showed me his flight plan , flight plan , flight to plan , and , my goodness me , he is one busy , busy man indeed , so it's really exciting to have him here . He is another big friend of alakazam . I know that we've had lots and lots of his items in stock .

We've actually had him here for an academy as well , and I was actually just saying to him how much I enjoyed some of the effects on that . They are so direct , they play massive , they're really commercial and they're all really clever effects , which is pretty much like everything I've ever , ever seen from this man . So I'm not going to tease anymore .

You would have seen the name in the title anyway . Today's guest , of course , needs no introduction . He is Mr Luca Volpe . Hello .

They say oh , he's the magician , let him go that's really nice .

So you know there's a big story about it , but you know you need to be careful what you bring with you on the plane yep , I agree , uh , but I'm very excited to hear what your list is .

Looking at his um , his schedule , uh , he's going to be whisked away to a desert island . When he goes , he's only allowed to take eight tricks a one book and one non-magic item , particulars like where the island is , who's on the island ? Does he have audience or not ? That sort of stuff it doesn't really matter .

This is about his ultimate list of tricks , that if he could perform them for the rest of his life , that's what he would take . Now , normally , I have a guess . Luca is obviously very famous for his mentalism , so I'm going to guess that this is going to be a mentalist heavy list , which I love personally .

Actually , when we meet I always have this wallet with me because it's my actual everyday wallet and actually I have the first Alagazam Stealth Assassin , but it's still the branding of the made in UK , made in England wallet , which was one of the first ones .

And it still works very well , actually , you know , I know , people cannot see it , but it's actually here , you see , wow , you can see People know because they're only here . But this is the actual stamp see , uh , a stamp of a genuine leather made in england . I think this was one of the first one .

It still works really well , still my favorite wallet and I I can do like a 20 minutes show with it okay .

It's not the destination , it's the journey you want to have with the spectator during a routine . I think this is the most important thing , something that suddenly I don't see today , especially in young magician and mentalists that try to go directly to the point . I always think , okay , if you have real powers , what do you do ?

You know you do by steps , right , and honestly , the thing is that because you know you , we know what the spectator has drew , why not to do it for real ? Why you don't really try to push yourself and try this for real ?

Because you still have a baker , but then you know what it is , but why you don't actually try to understand and feel what the spectator is feeling .

I I think this is a good exercise in general and you know there is also people that does like contact , mind reading , pseudo contact , mind reading routines , and I always say you ask the spectator to choose a card . They're lost in the deck and you know which is the card . But now you do this kind of fake contact mind reading , but why not to do for real ?

Why not to really learn ? You know how to do this kind of fake contact mind reading , but why not to do for real ? Why not to really learn how to do this ? And there are people like Richard Osterling and many others that they do really well , so it's all a matter of training .

that it feels too limited . What's the point when you can literally make someone think up anything in the entire world ? Why ? A playing card .

You can do black and white , it can be with colors , something simple , but something that represents your life in this moment , something that has a meaning for you . So do you have in mind ? Good , okay , now you know , as albert einstein said , we need to put on paper what we think , so that we can reach our dreams and desires .

So please , take a piece of paper , write it down , make the drawing , because this now is a physical proof of what you're thinking . Okay , so we hide this away so that I cannot touch it . You cannot touch it .

Now , give me your hands and take me with you in this beautiful , beautiful , you know museum and let's have a look together the picture that you just drew in your mind . So , as you can see , now , everything changed . Now , the pieces of pieces , paper , the wallet , that doesn't mean anything . It's just a physical proof of what they think .

Even now , what is really is the moment it , what is the routine now , is basically the journey that you're living with them with that , with that imagination . So at the end they , they will remember this . They will even forget that they actually did the drawings , you know .

We've been working about maybe eight months there's almost a baby , I would say and I think this I try to create a deck of cards that you can actually perform anything , because every card has three elements there's a word which is a motivational words , and we actually I collected the best motivational words that you can use when you do corporate performances .

Um , because I this is my main job , I do a lot of corporate shows all around the world and you know there are words in English that are always used most of the time . So I try to use a collection of 52 motivational words that are internationally recognized , and then every card older than the word has a number from 1 to 52 .

And also , the other corner has a playing card , the corner of a playing card . So , basically , you can do anything . You can do tricks with cards , you can do tricks with numbers so you can predict the lottery numbers , lottery tickets , you can do motivation routine , and everything comes with other than the full video download .

I actually wrote a book where I explain a full mentalism show that you can do straight from your pocket , only using this tech . On stage there is a beautiful routine that I do all all the time . It's called words . I do this in my corporate shows and it kills . I mean , it's an incredible routine , very strong .

I mean , if you have this , this wire on a desert island , you have this on you . There is audience or not , whatever it is , but you can perform a full mentalism show with nothing else than this deck . And it took me months to go through all the design . This is why I really care . It's always with me . It's one . I will say an emergency show , that's it .

Your flight goes on , that's it . Your flight goes on a desert island . Your luggage is lost . What do you do ? But you have the next deck in your pocket . You can still do shows and perform .

Basically , just go on stage , the people , and that's actually a very important point if you , if we can have a minute , because you know all the tricks we talk about and everything else you take with you and beautiful things you know . But at the end of the day , what matters in those the tricks , tricks , it's you .

So I always think that a good performer needs to be able to perform without anything , just with this presence , with this persona , with this speech . You don't need to be a comedian to entertain people . You can just talk and listen .

I mean , if you see the greatest psychic entertainers , if you would talk also professional psychic entertainers like John Edwards , for example John Edwards is a famous psychic entertainers if you would talk also professional psychic entertainers like John Edwards , for example . John Edwards is a famous psychic entertainer .

He's not a mentalist at all , but he goes on stage and he starts to talk with dead people , if you want to say it like this . But if we see beyond that , we need to understand the techniques behind it . He just talks with people . He entertained them answering questions , okay , talking with dead people or whatever , but there's nothing else .

There are no pieces of paper in play , there is no pens , there's nothing . It's just him and the people . So I think we actually I think mentalists and magicians they need to work on this , on being able to really go on stage and say to people okay , look , I'm a mind reader , I'm a mentalist , I have a special connection with people .

I would like each one of you to think of a question . When you have a question in your mind , just say out loud . For example , gentleman there , tell me which is your question , I will try to answer with my inner intuition . And that's exactly what you know . Great psychics in the past , they were doing Just this .

You know most of the time that , if you think about the shamans , that's exactly what they were doing . They were going in trance , answering questions , that's it , nothing else .

So I think we really need to say , okay , we have tricks , we have a lot of tricks . They're beautiful , we all do , we all buy things , but we need to work a lot of on ourself , on our persona and how to be able to entertain without anything yeah , amazing , amazing , very , very true , and I bet the motivational wording on those as well .

They don't use , because there are incredible applications to mentalism too . In fact , there are mentalists of the past that have been using for predictions , like a prediction in the block of ice , for example . There was a beautiful routine using this method only and nothing else . I imagine how powerful it is .

You have this tube inside a block of ice , in full view for through all the show , and then the spectators tell you various things , or maybe they tell you words , and then you have these people breaking the block of ice . You take the tube , you show your hand empty and from inside you take one single piece of paper and take exactly that word .

That Spectator was thinking Now , look how strong is , how clean is , and because the method is very simple , we kind of forget about it , right ? But in reality , if you don't use it to make I don't know a silk disappear , okay , well , the people don't know about it . The audience don't know that exists . So there are so many other applications .

If you are on a desert island , you can make sand appear , or sand appear from paper or whatever it is . I mean , there are so many applications . The limit is only your imagination , and especially in mentalism . It's not an item that's been used very well .

In fact , I'm working on some project now on how to actually work more with this tool in mentalism performances From , I don't know , it can be predictions , it can be , you know , a bank night routines .

I mean there are many applications you can use this and I'm working on a project that will be in the future because I don't have time , but I'm writing down various ideas on how to use this tool . So I think this is a must have on the desert island .

But just because it's synonymous with one thing , it doesn't mean that it can't be used in other ways .

I created my FISM act a few years ago when they did a FISM Italy and I was actually the only mentalist doing a very intimate act in front of 3,000 people I mentioned . The light went down . Actually , that is on YouTube . If you go to Dream Act or something like this , luca Volpe , you will find the full Fiesmacht there and it was really emotional .

It was nothing else than a rose , the lock and a diary . That's it . I mean you can expect on Feastman , like this huge production thing , and I was totally the opposite . You know two people on a big stage with beautiful light and very emotional connection . It was incredible because you can , it was so silent .

You know you have 3000 people just fully concentrated on you and this person and their dreams , because the idea was that she was able to find the combination to unlock her dream .

And then at the end , I didn't reveal the dream , I just gave him an envelope , a red envelope with the rose and I told them look , inside this rose there is your dream , but you're not able to open yet . You will only open this envelope when the last petal of the rose will fall . So it was very poetic , very romantic . You see , poetry .

Mentalism is another thing that is not around and I talk about a lot in my book . You know emotional mentalism and the other ones . It's how to connect with people with mentalism , and the Griezmann lock , again , is a metaphor on how we can unlock our dreams in finding the combination .

But what I love about them and I mean Derren Brown famously used a lock opening trick in his very first stage show many , many years ago , and I think it's actually part of the opening routine oh no , so he gives her the case .

If you don't find the combination , you will never reach your dreams . So is a . And then when she finally opened the lock because I give the lock in her hands and the end , when she opened the lock , they say you see she ? She smiled , not because she find the combination , but because she overcome the limit .

You know she , at the beginning she said I will never be able to find the combination , but now that you overcome the limit , you know that anything is possible . So you know that you can reach your dreams yeah , that's amazing .

Now , again , this is one of those things where you say , oh yeah , that's just a pendulum swinging the people in my hand , what do I need to do with that ? Well , you're wrong if you think this , because a pendulum is a fantastic tool that the people , again are not used to it .

So the pendulum , when the pendulum starts to swing , when you tell the spectator look , hold the pendulum and tell the pendulum to move in circle , and the pendulum actually starts to move in circle , and then you say , okay , now move back and forth , change the position , and the pendulum will change position , change movements . Well , this is incredible .

I mean , the people go crazy when I do Closer Magic . Sometimes I just spend my time at the table because the people want to actually try the pendulum in their hands and I don't have time to do anything else . So it's really , really powerful . It can be connected with your intuition . You can find the playing cards , even the simplest routine .

When you ask the spectator to choose a card , they place it back in the deck . You spread the deck on the table and you move the pendulum around the cards and you find their cards , maybe holding their hands . I mean , it pushed the routine to a completely different level . It's not anymore you find a card , you choose a card .

I find it Now it's all different . Now it's connection , it's intuition . Find it , now it's all different . Now it's connection , it's intuition , it's completely , totally different . So the pendulum is an incredible and I have a collection of pens where you don't , maybe you have no idea . I have all the kind of pandas with with witness .

You know the one that you open you can place a piece of paper in it . I have some handmade ones . I mean every kind of pendulum you can imagine I have .

We actually had a guest on this recording obviously that they're going to be released at different times , but just a few days ago who I'm not going to mention because I'm not sure when his episode's going out but we had a long discussion about pendulums and the fact that it becomes something that's not about the performer at all , it's all about the audience and

it's all about their experience and their control over this thing , and sometimes the things control over the person , because you know it can go either way , it can be reframed in different ways . For people .

I always say elegance is minimalism , okay . So more minimalist you are in the props you use , more elegant you look , and this , I think , is very important .

Also , when you go very elegant with a nice suit , you know at the table , or you do like an intimate show and you take a beautiful pendulum from your pocket , it's changed completely the look , the atmosphere , the perception that the people have of you . And this , I think , is a very important point .

You know we need to be able to look at these things in another way . We know we all buy things . You know we like to buy stuff because , of course , it's important for our growth . You know , because we learn from other people . But at the same time , let's have a look how we can be minimalist and create impossible things .

I mean five business cards and a pendulum and the stealth assassin wallet and a lock . If you want to put this together , you literally have now a show on you that has an incredible impact on the audience , very powerful , and they will never forget it one .

there wasn't one that reacted as well , I would simply walk up to them , ask them to open up their hand , put the pendulum in their hand and say try this when you get home . I think something different will happen . If it does , please contact me . And then I sit them back down .

Now the interesting thing is they go home , they try it and you get a message a couple of weeks later of people saying oh my , my God , how did it work at home . It was amazing . And you know you can talk them through whatever you want , but it's a great way to get connection after your event as well .

You know , at the end , at the beginning , I always do some tests to understand how the people react and stuff , and that the , I think , is also experience , because you know , once you do this job from 35 , 40 years and you do all shows everywhere for any kind of people , you start to find patterns and you know which are the one that works better for one

thing , which are the one that work better for another one , which are the one that work better for another one . You know so for sure you don't want to do the pendulum in a bar , somewhere where the people are already drunk . You know you don't want to use the pendulum . So there are tricks for specific places , you know .

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And I think that , uh , first of all they create curiosity because , again , if you're a magician , especially you do a trick with tarot cards , it suddenly becomes something different .

Now it's not anymore finding five of hearts , even if playing cards has meanings , but it's finding the wheel of fortune , for example , or finding the cards of the fool or the magician or whatever it is . So you actually can transform with the Tarots , a simple trick in something a lot more meaningful .

And also the people that normally don't believe is inevitable , but as soon as they see a Tarot card or a deck of Tarots , they say , oh , please , can you read me ? You know , can you tell about my future ? So you suddenly become also their , you know their readers , a psychic reader or whatever it is .

Earlier on you said you know , one day you hope to be able to just travel with nothing on you , or seemingly nothing on you , and a tarot card , a deck of tarot cards , and something else that you just said is the major arcana .

I also think that the major arcana is sort of all you need um number one , because that's what's most represented in in the public's opinion and their , their minds . They don't really understand tarot beyond that aspect of it , and also it becomes a little bit convoluted in terms of the amount of everything that's going on .

You want it to have some sort of simplicity to it , otherwise it just gets overwhelming for everyone and a pendulum and let's say you can go on stage asking people questions .

He helped me out to write the show and we did a tour in Italy with this show and actually I had a full section of question and answer where literally I was on stage with the questions into this big bowl and I was moving the pendulum on that and answering people's questions . There was a mixture of it .

It was people asking open questions and it was also me answering thought of questions . So it was a little bit of a mixture of it . It's a very difficult piece to pull off on stage because there is just you improvising , because you cannot have stock readings in your brain . You really need to go with the flow and the best way you know what is .

Imagine that you're talking with a friend and you're giving advice to a friend . That's the best way to do reading and to improvise as a reader in that moment , forget that you have an audience around . Just imagine that jamie , your friend , is asking , asking a question , and I just telling him what I really feel from my heart and from my intuition . That's it .

That is the best way to do readings .

But when I do my theatre show or I do my intimate show , which is called a magical life , which is basically uh the show , where it's my journey from magic to mentalism , it's an intimate uh show for 12 people that I do in specific places and there there is also some pendulum works . And all the time they ask me to do a quick reading for them .

And you know what I do . I just tell them open the palm of your hand on top of my palm , I move the pendulum on top of the palm of their hands and , based on how the pendulum move , I do the reading for them .

It's not a wallet , is a folio that contains a full mentalism show , four stage , and that fits in your pocket . When I was doing cruise ships , which I did for for 13 years I had the needs of having with me another 45 minutes show that basically was taking no space . So I created a very rudimental , terrible fox where that contains this 45 minute show .

Then I spoke with Alan Wong and together we actually created this folio which has so many features which all mentalists knows , plus all routine , all the show written on a book that comes with the Fox , from the opener to the final prediction . I mean there is everything .

If you learn the show , how it's explained , you can basically take the fox and travel the world with nothing else than a folio in your pocket and this is a perfect tool to take on a desert island because , again , everything is there . You don't need anything else .

And again , if you think it , all the items which I talk about today , they can actually be all together creating a show Include the stealth assassin , the deck the Nyx deck that thing I said before the gimmick that we all know the lock , the pendant , the tarot deck and the fox , plus the next one I'm going to tell you in a moment .

If you take this list and with a little bit of creativity you put everything together , you have more than one hour show . So what I'm giving to you guys is not only the list of tricks that I will take with me , but it's an exercise in creativity on how to take these eight items today and create a show .

Because I like crystals , you know , I always I studied crystals , uh , and I think they're very powerful tools that help us to connect our minds , body connection .

People can believe anything they want , but I think if you want to think on the psychological way sides of things , when you hold a crystal that you know has a specific meaning , that can psychologically help you . In fact , crystals are used also in medicine to help people to overcome some you know fears and self-limiting beliefs .

You know there are people that give you specific crystals for specific things you know , because crystals contain specific elements you know , like the amethyst or the quartz crystals and stuff like this . Now imagine this . Imagine that you do reading for a spectator and then you have a bag which is technically called the shaman bag .

Okay , you have a leather bag with inside a bunch of different color crystals and you say look , you asked me about your inner intuition . You're worried of things right now , and this is a amethyst crystal . The amethyst crystal helps to open our inner intuition .

So before you go to sleep , just place the crystal on your third eye , take a nice step , a deep breath and concentrate , see yourself in thinking on uh , open your intuition , opening your mind , and you will see that new ideas will flow in your mind . And you give this in a little bag to the spectator .

That's it , and that becomes an incredible memento they will take with them forever . It's just one crystal . So if you know about crystal which again , you can get so many books or you can go online Buy the main ones you know the citrine , the rose quartz , the crystal quartz , all these main crystals that have a specific meaning .

So crystal , rose quartz , with love and relationship , you know Quartz crystal can be like psychic healing or whatever it is . You know you can have all these simple meanings that you will remember and you can do many things . You can give this as a meanings that you will remember and you can do many things . You can give this as a souvenir to the spectator .

I have a beautiful routine where I give the crystal in the spectator's hands and they imagine to send all the negative energy inside the crystal . And then the hands become heavier and heavier . And do you see the spectator , the hands of the spectator , going down slower , slower , slower . And then I take the crystal .

I clean the crystal in the spectator , going down slower , slower , slower . And then I take the crystal . I clean the crystal in the water , I throw the water , so it's a mini ritual . And then I say , okay , now , instead of sending bad energy , you are going to absorb positive energy . And then the crystal become part of them , become a memento .

They will always keep with them , forever , you know . So , crystals again , if you put the crystal with the tarot , with the pendulum and anything else we talk about today , this is your exercise , guys . So listen again the interview .

Take a piece of paper and a pen and write down all the items I just told you and imagine how you can put them together in creating something that is meaningful for you .

So she gave me this crystal and I said , well , what does it mean ? And she said it's for work . So hopefully this will bring you some sort of success in work or in your job .

You just give to a spectator a crystal in their hand , so see how powerful it did . They will remember this forever .

I do a routine with the keys and the locks and I was doing this on the cruise ship and basically the spectator find the key that opened the lock with their intuition and they overcome self-limiting belief , kind of the one with the numbers with the lock . Um , they said their dream was to open a spa in los angeles .

After a few months she sent me a picture of the key framed in a in a in their spa in los angeles wow . And she said this is thanks to you and to that key wow so now , as you can , just a little item can become incredibly powerful . So when you go out , I think you always need to leave magic . You need to be a magician .

Even when you go out to buy a Tesco or whatever it is , you have crystals , a few crystals in your pocket , because you'll never know . You can meet someone that you see they're a little bit sad or whatever it is . Or it happens that you talk with someone , just give them a crystal and see what happened .

And , of course , the item , because we never know where that's going to go . Um , so what was in your book position , luca ?

Okay , now , they're very old techniques , but this is not important , because in the old stuff you find modern stuff , right , and there are ideas from the greatest and also the people that we don't know . We completely forgot . The magic of bascom jones , I think , is an incredible resource for mentalists and magicians okay , amazing .

So there are topics that are repeated , uh , and topics that are not repeated , of course , but I think the first three volumes , one of the first three , that where there is the gold dust in it , you know .

Sometimes they screw the things and you have to screw in it . Second , you have like you're doing a show and the button fall , or you have some thread that you need to cut , or you need to round cards or anything else you have to do . If you have a pocket knife in your pocket , a multi-tool pocket knife , it really saves your butt from many situations .

It's an incredible tool and especially if you are on a desert island , how you can eat the fruit you need to cut with something . So I think this is a very good tool .

You know , social media , stuff like this . People completely forgot about connections and because we are mentalists , we are magicians , we still have this power that not anyone else has , because today the only way to connect is social media . You know , there is not even more people approaching girls or boys on the street . It's on Tinder or these kind of apps .

So people completely forgot about real human connection and because we do this job , we can still have the power to do that .

I always had the privilege to show people in detail what they get . Also , because it's a private group and we almost have 6,000 mentalists and magicians from all around the world and you know we do live launches and it's a closed group so we can be open about methods because it's only between professional magicians and nothing goes outside that group .

So this is very important . I appreciate I have people doing reviews on YouTube , but I don't do because I really like to protect mysteries , I like to protect secrets , so I try not to talk in public forums . I always try to do this in my group , which is a closed group , and there there's so much going on .

We have special offers , latest releases and with Peter , with Alakazam , we did also some live lounge there . It went really , really well . And then , of course , my website , lucavolpecom that is my nom and my channel my channel youtube channel . There is all my live stage shows and everything else you can see from there amazing .

We did 22 shows in touring this beautiful uh living rooms in these beautiful houses and that's the show I'm explaining . And then , of course , I was also available for lectures all around Europe . So if you have a club they want to have a special lecture for me , just feel free to contact me .

So all you need to do is to go to the Desert Island Tricks website , which is through Buzzsprout . You can also find it through the Al Island Tricks website , which is through Buzzsprout . You can also find it through the Alakazam website . When you're on there it will say or even on the podcast provider so I do believe that Apple podcast has it as well .

At the top it says text the show . Tap on that and it will send a message straight to us so we can read out your messages live on air . If you don't want your name read out , then obviously let us know that , but if not , include your name and we can read it out .

So once again , thank you all for listening and we will see you again next week on another episode of Desert Island Tricks .

So go download it now and we'll see you on the next podcast .