Soulmail 💌
This romantic ruse uses an envelope to deliver (pun intended) a two-stage card magic routine perfect for a couple. As it leaves your participants with a gift as a reminder of the magic, this is an ideal routine for the Bride and Groom at a wedding. 💒👰🤵
JUMP AHEAD
On This Page
Effect
Background & Credits
Requirements & Preparation
Method & Presentation
Cleanup & Reset
Performance Tips & Additional Ideas
Final Thoughts
Effect
A spectator selects a card and places it face down on the table, sight unseen. The magician then deals a card for each letter in every word of the sentence written on the front of the envelope. The last card dealt (on the letter E) is turned over; it’s the Jack of Clubs. The chosen card is then turned face up. It is the Jack of Spades—a perfect “soulmate” match!
The cards are then shuffled and divided into two piles. One pile is given to the Bride and the other to the Groom. They take turns dealing cards, forming a single pile in the centre of the table. Whenever they wish, they stop.
The envelope is opened, and one card is removed. You tell them this is a “Wedding gift” from you to celebrate their union. It’s the Eight of Hearts. The top card of the pile is turned over—it’s the Eight of Diamonds!
The magician explains that these two cards together symbolise the Chinese idea of “Double Happiness” (囍, shuāngxǐ), which is intended to bless the couple with double the joy and happiness as they begin their married life together. The two cards are placed into the envelope and given to the Bride and Groom as a keepsake of this magical moment on their special day.
Background & Credits
“Soul mail” is a combination of a trick utilising the cyclical properties of the Si Stebbins stack and a prediction effect I first learnt in Paul Daniels Adult Magic by Barry Murray called “Compulsion”. I’m not entirely sure where each principle was first published.
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| Portrait of Arthur Carter, enhanced with AI (circa 1953). Photo Credit: The Wizard Modern Magic Monthly. |
The envelope principle most likely belongs to magician Arthur Carter (pictured above), as it features in his trick “Out of This Wallet” in the book Magic Circle Magic, edited by Will Dexter and published in 1963 by Harry Clarke (as a tribute to George and Lewis Davenport). I can’t find much information about Arthur Carter. He released a similar trick called “Incredible Coincidence” through The Supreme Magic Co., which can now be purchased from Lybrary.com (it is well worth the money and has a simple yet very sneaky method).
The spelling location using the Si Stebbins is also an ancient principle and is harder to track down. I first discovered it in the following video by magician Tom Interval: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qv6b_XaLHk.
Combining a stack with a marked deck is an old idea that may have originated with Theodore DeLand’s “Automatic Playing Cards” (also known as his “Dollar Deck”). The cards are marked, stripped and stacked.
Requirements & Preparation
You will need:
- A marked deck of playing cards (including two Jokers)
- Red envelope (letter-sized)
- Black marker or pen
- Small card explaining the Double Happiness symbol (optional)
To prepare, remove the Eight of Hearts and Eight of Diamonds from the deck. Place the Eight of Hearts inside the envelope, with the face of the card against the address side, and seal it. Write “THE SOULMATE OF YOUR CARD IS THE...” on the front of the envelope in bold, clear lettering. Take the Eight of Diamonds and place it face down beneath the envelope so it remains hidden. Arrange everything inside your wallet in a way that allows you to easily retrieve the envelope with the Eight of Diamonds concealed underneath.
Arrange the card in Si Stebbins order, substituting the Eight of Hearts for the colourful Joker and the Eight of Diamonds for the black and white one. Here’s the order:
A♣-4♥-7♠-10♦-K♣-3♥-6♠-9♦-Q♣-2♥-5♠-8♦-J♣
A♥-4♠-7♦-10♣-K♥-3♠-6♦-9♣-Q♥-2♠-5♦-8♣-J♥
A♠-4♦-7♣-10♥-K♠-3♦-6♣-9♥-Q♠-2♦-5♣-8♥-J♠
A♦-4♣-7♥-10♠-K♦-3♣-6♥-9♠-Q♦-2♣-5♥-8♠-J♦
Using the Jokers in this way ensures that the tetradistic nature of the stack is preserved (that there are four repeating groups of cards in a known order). This is important because the method relies on the fact that every matching pair is separated by twenty-five cards.
Method & Presentation
Begin by performing a full-deck false shuffle. I like to use a sloppy Charlier Shuffle, as it looks very much like you’re haphazardly mixing the cards when, in fact, you’re just cutting the deck. If you know a more sophisticated full-deck false shuffle, such as the Zarrow Shuffle, then you can do that instead. Either way, finish this mixing sequence with several regular cuts.
Phase 1
Place the deck on the table and ask a member of the bridal party, but not the Bride or Groom, to select a card by cutting the deck. Let’s assume that the Maid of Honour does this for you. Demonstrate what you want her to do, then turn your back on the group. Tell her to cut the cards as many times as she wishes. Once she’s satisfied, instruct her to look at the top card of the deck, show it around, and then hide it somewhere you cannot see it, e.g., in her handbag, under a napkin or beneath a plate.
Turn to face your audience again and read the secret marking on the top card of the deck. This will help you determine the value and suit of the hidden card, for example, the Two of Clubs. Look at the Maid of Honour and say, “I have a strong feeling that you are in the middle of planning or preparing something important, as indicated by the Two of Clubs!” What you are doing here is a simple cartomantic reading related to the card that the spectator selected; this is a fun and unusual way to reveal the name of the chosen card and create the illusion that you’ve somehow read her mind.
Have the selected card revealed, leaving it face up on the table. Take back the deck and say, “According to Old English Cartomancy, that is fortune-telling with playing cards, every card in the deck has a soulmate.” Remove the envelope from the wallet, display the message to your audience, and then carefully place it on the edge of the table. Ensure that the Eight of Diamonds remains hidden beneath the envelope as you do this.
Next, deal one card to the table for every letter in the phrase “THE SOULMATE OF YOUR CARD IS THE...” When you reach the E, take the last card and place it face down next to the face-up card already on the table. Slowly turn it over to reveal that it is the mate of the selection.
Phase 2
Hand the deck to the Bride and ask her to thoroughly shuffle the cards. As she does this, pick up the envelope (and the card hidden beneath it). Instruct the Bride to give about half the cards to her “other half” and then tell the Groom to shuffle his cards as well.
Instruct the Bride and Groom to take turns dealing a card to the table, forming a single pile. Say, “This is your first test as a married couple to see how well you can work together as a team!” This will add a touch of light-hearted humour to the situation and make the dealing less dull to watch. More importantly, it will result in a messy pile rather than a tidy one.
Tell the Bride and Groom that they must decide together when they want to stop dealing cards. When they stop, ask, “Are you both sure? Are you in agreement that this is the right time to stop?” If they wish to deal a few more cards to the pile, let them. Once they’ve made their joint decision to stop, casually toss the envelope on top of the cards, secretly adding the Eight of Diamonds to the very top of the deck.
Tell the bride to pick up the envelope and open it. Inside, she’ll find the Eight of Hearts. Ask the groom to turn over the top card of the pile to reveal the Eight of Diamonds. Explain to your audience that these two cards represent “Double Happiness” and that they will bless the couple with a future full of joy, good fortune, and happiness. Leave the envelope, along with the two red Eights, with the couple as a keepsake and memento of the magic.
Cleanup & Reset
There’s no easy reset for this trick. However, it is designed to be performed only once, exclusively for the Bride and Groom.
Performance Tips & Additional Ideas
Beginning with a Si Stebbins setup, you can perform various stack-based tricks for the rest of the party before doing “Soulmail” for the Bride and Groom. The routine will dismantle the stack, and if you’re ending your act at this point, you can leave the entire deck with the Bride and Groom as a wedding gift, along with the red envelope and the two red Eights. If you plan to do this, I wouldn't use a marked deck—unless you intend to use it again when visiting the Bride and Groom at home after the wedding. Instead, I would case the deck, secretly sighting the bottom card of the pack (allowing me to determine the value and suit of the hidden card). In any other situation, you might as well use a marked deck; doing so enables a more hand-off approach to the first phase of the trick.
Note: You must remeber that the colourful Joker is taking the place of the Eight of Hearts in the stack and the Eight of Diamonds is represented by the black and white Joker. If a Joker is on top of the pack during phase 1 of the routine, you know that the hidden card is a black Jack. If a Joker is chosen and hidden by the spectator, the top card of the deck will be one of the black Jacks. This is easy to remember because, in the 1989 Tim Burton film Batman, The Joker is also known as Jack Napier (as portrayed by Jack Nicholson). As a big Batman fan, this is how I remeber associating the Joker with the black Jacks.
Instead of asking the Bride and Groom to form a single pile of cards during phase 2, you can get them to create two separate piles. This can introduce further opportunities for comedic byplay. For example, if the Groom stops dealing first, you can say, “Typical, the man finishes before the woman. I guess you’ll just have to get used to that!” This kind of risque double entendre goes down well at a wedding, especially if the sparkling wine has been flowing. However, use your personal judgement to decide if jokes like this one are suitable.
This two-pile handling also allows you to utilise a brilliant idea by Peter Duffie, from his version of “Out of This Wallet,” called “Without a Dare in the World”, found in his booklet New Inspirations (see page 12). Once the two piles are formed, tap the envelope, with the Eight of Diamonds hidden beneath it, on top of one of the two piles. Immediately release the card and say, “Do you want the envelope to go here...” Then take the envelope and use it to tap the other pile while asking, “...or here?” If the couple indicate that the envelope should be placed on top of the pile with the force card on it, pick up the other pile and ask them to hand you the remaining cards. These are then added to your own and discarded. If, however, they suggest that the envelope should go on the pile without the Eight of Diamonds on top, simply turn the top card of the other pile face up to reveal the Eight of Diamonds as the chosen card.
I love this idea by Peter because it removes all the risk from the method and makes the critical moment, when you load the Force card on top of the pile, much harder to detect. However, from a presentation perspective, I do like the concept of asking the bride and groom to work together to form a single pile. Try both approaches and see which one you think works best.
When performing this routine on stage or in a parlour setting, you can place the envelope, with the force card concealed behind it, upright in a small wooden card holder (a tiny block of wood with a slit in it). This allows your audience to read the message on the address side of the envelope without you needing to handle it. When you’re ready to load the force card onto the pile, the stand also makes it easier to grasp the envelope and the hidden card without any hesitation or fumbling.
Final Thoughts
While there’s nothing particularly original about the methods at play, the two phases complement each other, transforming what would be a short coincidence effect into a longer performance piece worthy of a feature effect at a wedding.
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