This first volume of Essay Esse Ese is dedicated to Christopher’s thinking on the controversial genre of Propless Mentalism. Rather than a love letter to this genre, Christopher tackles what he hates about it, what he loves about it, and the foundational principles he has designed for his own work — for developing and performing prop-free routines genuinely worthy of an audience’s time. Christopher has little patience for any kind of Mentalism that leaves an audience waiting for something magical to happen.
Three powerhouse propless routines accompany and illustrate the theoretical thinking established in this work.
Routines
Cartomancy Plus
A sitter is provided insight into a question they have about their life using the oracle of Cartomancy. A magical moment then occurs that leaves the sitter stunned at what has been created through coincidence.
The Ring of Light
First published in Monad, the Ring of Light is Christopher’s go-to propless Date of Birth Divination. No anagrams, hanging statements, focusing on specific digits, or complicated mathematics. Using a genuine psychic tradition found in Numerology books written for laymen, the mentalist offers an intuitive reading while secretly harvesting a date of birth — allowing for direct reveals, predictions, and One-Ahead style routines. Also included: a propless thought-of name divination using tools developed by Phedon Bilek. This was the stand-out routine praised by customers of Monad.
The Unnamed Propless Name Divination
Using methods developed by Q&A authors George Anderson and Robert Nelson, this chapter provides a framework for divining thought-of names proplessly — no cognitive or facial detection methods, no letter-based procedures, no common unisex names. Best integrated into another Mentalism performance rather than used as a self-contained routine.
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