Ink Blot Cards by Christian Schenk and Dr. Todd Landman $34.50
Available at: http://www.card-shark.de
In another thread on this forum, I fretted and fulminated over some guy displaying Rorschach cards online and revealing the normal responses to the cards. I worried that so many people would be exposed to this information that the Rorschach test would be rendered meaningless. Then I took a handful of Atavan and quickly felt much better.
From a global perspective, Magicland is a teeny tiny community. The number of people who will actually buy this product and perform it regularly is even smaller. I believe that so few people will be exposed to these cards that the integrity of the Rorschach test will not be threatened. Besides, I am evaluating the merits of the product, not the ethical implications of using it.
Purchasers of this product receive a deck of 53 cards, composed of five sets of the ten Rorschach cards, one card displaying all ten images, and two other cards designed in the style of the original images that depict an angel and a devil.
The cards are beautiful! The faces possess a light brown patina that gives them the appearance of being quite old. This discoloration does not diminish the clarity of the images, which have been faithfully replicated and look terrific. Five of the images are black and the other five images are colored.
I asked Dr. Landman if it was legal to print and sell the Rorschach images in this manner and he stated that Mr. Schenk assured him that this production was legal. I thought youd like to know.
The backs of the cards have the same design as Card-Sharks Heirloom Deck. I cant adequately describe the look of the cards. If youre interested, go to the website and check out the photos.
The backs of the cards are marked in a clever, subtle manner, and allow you to determine the cards value regardless of the cards orientation.
The images were designed to be ambiguous, so memorizing which value corresponds to which image will be a bit more challenging than if you were dealing with regular playing cards. But youll get the hang of it.
The cards are also pointer cards on both face and back. The marking and pointer features can be applied to a wide range of magic and mentalism effects.
The cards dont fan well. This limitation bothers me not one whit, because I dont ever foresee myself using the entire deck.
You also receive a nicely designed seven page, full color booklet that is well written by Dr. Landman. He offers a brief history of ink blot images and the Rorschach cards themselves, including the normal responses for each card. He cites two technical books that the reader can peruse if theyd like to learn more about the Rorschach test.
The author teaches several effects that exploit the cards special features. These include Oil and Water; an effect in which the mask card reveals a participants inner self by transforming into either the angel or devil card; a mind reading effect; Pseudo Psychometry; a drawing duplication; and a matching effect.
While all of these effects are rather pedestrian, they should provide enough stimulation to get your creative juices flowing. Dr. Landman cites a number of books that address these various effects.
The author also suggests that the cards can be employed to conduct psychic readings. He provides the reader with references to several books on this topic. While I detest every aspect of psychic readings, I can understand how this application may appeal to some people.
I automatically like these cards because Im a therapist. But I understand that they are going to be of limited appeal to most card men. I think that they will find favor with therapists, mentalists, bizarrists, and people who dig specialty or vintage decks.
The price tag is also going to be a limiting factor. $35.00 is tall green for any deck of cards. But those who are willing to pay the price will possess a great looking deck of cards that should inspire many pleasingly pathological presentations.
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