Stasia's Decision Making Talisman

Our friend and go-to illustrator for all things Jerx (including all three books), Stasia, has a product out that I think has some potentially interesting magic uses.

It’s a coin you flip for help with decision making. Sort of. I say “sort of” because it doesn’t always give you an answer.

You’ve probably seen similar coins of this type that have a YES on one side and a NO on the other. The idea being that when you face a fork in the road and you’re not sure what to do, you ask, “Should I ask her to marry me?” or, “Should I get a second pickle?” Or whatever question is on your mind, and you flip the coin and get your answer.

Here is Stasia’s version, the moth/solar system talisman.

Here’s what I like about this. First off, this has the right esthetic you’d want for use in a magic trick. It doesn’t look like it came off the press of the US Mint in Denver. It looks and feels like something with a slightly more mysterious provenance. If you said this was a one-of-a-kind piece and that you watched them pour the molten metal into a hand-made mold—that could be believed. (“And the creepy thing is what they melted to get that metal…,”) If you said it’s a token from this odd organization from the 1930s, they could believe that too. If you said, “I don’t know what this is. I just found it on the ground at this weird carnival I was at once. Long story.” These things would be a touch more believable with this object as opposed to something that looks like it was shot out of a machine with 10,000 other duplicate coins.

Then—if this thing disappears, or goes from one hand to another—there is perhaps a small part of the spectator’s brain that entertains the idea that there was more to that moment than “just a coin trick.”

But here’s the aspect of this coin that I find particularly interesting. If you look on the moth side, under the moth’s butt (?), it says the word “Yes.” But on the other side, it just has an abstraction of the solar system. There is no “NO” side. Here is Stasia’s explanation:

“One side is marked "YES" - surrounded by a moth, plants, stars and a moon. The other size is a simplified depiction of our solar system. The side can mean "NO" - but I like to think it's fuzzier than that, maybe inviting a zoom-in or zoom-out look at the decision at hand.”

I like this concept of a decision making coin that doesn’t always make the decision for you. I choose to interpret the “solar system” side as saying, like, “Go with your first instinct and trust that you carry the wisdom of the universe in you and that it has guided you to the right decision.” Or some jive like that.

You can, of course, just call the solar system side the “NO” side and be done with it.

But having a fuzzy decision making coin gives you the chance to do something interesting magic-wise.

Fuzzy PATEO

I’ll describe this as a card trick. But you’ll see how the idea can be used with anything you could do the PATEO force with.

Your friend sees the coin on the table and you give your backstory for it. You explain about the “YES” side and the other side which guides you to trust your instincts. You offer to show them something strange with it.

They slide a card out of a (marked) deck of cards. So you know what it is. You turn away and tell them to look at it. And then tell them to add a bunch more cards, like 7-10ish, and to mix all the cards up so they don’t know where their card is. Have them set the rest of the deck aside, and spread the group of cards all over the table.

Now you explain, “We’re going to go back and forth, and here’s how it will work. One of us will slide any two cards to the other person. That person will touch the coin to either card. Whichever they want. Then that person will ask one of two questions: ‘Should I keep this card,’ or, ‘Should I get rid of this card.’ Then you will flip the coin. If it comes up “YES,” then you will do whichever thing you asked about, either keep that card and get rid of the other, or vice versa. If it comes up on the other side, then you should go with your instincts in regards to which card to keep and which to get rid of.”

So it’s just the PATEO force, but there is so much more smoke here. It feels like there’s too much going on for you to be controlling anything.

First they have a free choice of which of the two cards to ask the question about, then they have a free choice of which question to ask, then there is the random result of a coin flip, and then—half the time—they will get another free choice on top of that. So with every elimination there are three or four moments of unpredictable chance or choice.

Of course, when it’s your turn, if the force card is put in front of you, you will either touch it with the coin and ask “Should I keep this?” Or touch the other card with the coin and ask, “Should I eliminate this?”

I probably wouldn’t use cards. I’d use subtly marked envelopes or billets/business cards and go from there and have the process guide them to one valuable thing in the envelopes or the one billet with the name of someone they love on it or something along those lines.

You can get the decision making talisman at her etsy store. Stasia has some other items you may find of use including, the best looking Tarot deck I’ve seen, an oracle deck with some great imagery for the mystery performer (the cards have a matte finish which makes them not good for any type of manipulation, but beautiful to hold and behold), and her cat deck which is catnip to people. Anyone who appreciates cuteness just fawns over them. (So that’s something me and that deck have in common.)