The meaning of Kabbala, translated from Hebrew, means something received and handed down. This definition resonates. Knowledge of magic, after all, is handed down from generation to generation, from magician to magician, and from teacher to disciple. Prior to xerography and personal computers, most magical knowledge was transmitted in this primitive, semi-private, and intimate means. Word-of-mouth reigned supreme and to a certain extent still does.

The magic scene in the Seventies was a blooming, buzzing place, atwitter with contentiousness and creativity. Close-up magic, particularly with cards, was becoming better. Tricks were becoming more interesting, finessed, and sophisticated. Many magicians became knowledgeable and expert: Fast-Company Men, too hip for each other, too hip for most rooms, and too hip for their own good. Magic for magicians took hold and had to be magician-proof. Card problems were subjected to new and stringent conditions and restrictions and strategies of misdirection-within-misdirection were the order of the day. This was the world Kabbala wanted to explore, exploit, and harvest.

The Kabbala (1971-81) was part of the information pipe-line, a supplement, complement, and co-conspirator. Although it did not start out to be an alternative voice, it became combative counterpoint to Pallbearers Review and Epilogue.

Most of the material collected in this book is still vital, interesting, and useful. Certain routines are prototypal members of a special class, not masterpieces or blockbusters in the hyperbolic sense, but solid, practical, thought-provoking effects.

CARDSTUFF TECHNIQUES

FORCES
- Farcical Force
- Original Christ Force
- Variations of K.M. Force
SWITCHES - CHANGES
- Bold Atfus
- Coin Kick and Card Change
- Convincing Jogged Change
- Eidetic Change
- Kick-Off Switch
- Push-In Change
- Finn Change
- Jelly Roll Change
- Spinner
- Marlo's Curry Curve
- No Way
- Deal Switch
- Scoop Change
- Mechanical Change
- New Card Add
- P.S. Move - Secret Subtraction Finesse
- Slow-Motion Marnase Change
- Ruffle Shuffle
PALMS
- Bottom Palm Replacement
- Marlo On The Longitudinal Palm
COUNTS, CUTS, SHUFFLES
- Expert's Elmsley Count
- Spirit Count
- Repeat Code 345
- Marnase False Cut
- Overhand Cull Shorts
CRIMPS, DEALS, AND STEALS
- One-Hand Crimp
- Multiple Minus Bottom
PASSES
- Marlo Half Pass
SPREADING
- Partial Ascanio
- Pivot Spread Variation
- Ruse Cull
- Side-Jog Cull
- Side-Jog Glide
- Spread Notes
ARSENAL ADDITIONS
- New Quick Three-Way
- One-Hand Tilt
- Tilt Throw-off I
- Tilt Throw-Off II
- Marlo's Screening Action
- Propelled Lapping Ideas
- Out Of The Rut Reverse

CARDSTUFF APPLICATIONS

BLIND AMBITION
- Ambitious Swindle
- Dual Ambitious
- For The Unambitious
- Still Avid
FOUR ACES
- No Trace Aces
- Gourmet Slide Aces
- Sawing A Lady In Half?
FOUR-ACE MUSTER-CLUSTER
- All-Fair Four-Ace Effect
- Elmsley Assembly
- Magician's Sleeper Aces
- Zap Aces
- Zap Variant
BACK-TRACKING
- Disassembling Jokers
- Technicolor Disassembling Jokers
- Gather And Scatter Ye Colorful Jokers
ROUNDABOUT ACES
- Blended Succession
- Successful Succession
- Succession Aces Of A Different Color
- Pyramid of the Kings
THINK ACE
- Cased-In Technicolor Thought
- Spread Think Ace
- Tabled Think Ace
- More Technicolor Thoughts
ACE-CUTTING
- Lead-In Ace-Cutting
- To Set Up
- Spectator Cuts Off More Than He Can Choose
- Spectator Cuts To And Turns Over The Aces
CASTING SPELLS
- Swindle Speller
- Spell Mell
- Spellbinder
- Shift Spell
- Taking Further Than That Too Far
THE RAW AND THE COOKED
- Canned Cannibals
- Cannibal Cards
- Cannibals French-Style
- Colorful Cannibals
- Real-Gone Missionaries
- Uncanny Cannibals
- Dessert
DELI DECEPTIONS
- Color-Changing Eidetic Sandwich
- Slap jack
- Pressed Between
CLOCK-WORK
- Atomic Clock
- Predetermined Hour
- Impromptu Predetermined Hour
MENTAL CASES
- Another Encore
- Blankwave
- Group Shuffle
- Card Clairvoyancy
- Christ-Crossed Clairvoyance
- Doubly Open
- Think As I Think
- Some People Think
- Still Visiting
- Totally Telepathic
- Turning On An Audience
- 21 Plus Subtlety
- Lie Sleuth
- Ma Bell Ringers
- "Card Thirteen" In Spades
- Ho-Hum Humdinger
- Humming With Hummer
- Third Thot
- Wired Hidden Power
- Impromptu X-ray Deck
- Riding The Wave
- Phantom Deck
PRIME-TIME PLOTS
- Another Elevator
- Between Elmsley, Brown, and Himber
- More!
- Complot Wallet Routine
- Castillon's Connection
- Elusive Jacks
- Fantasy Torn And Restored Card
- Jumping Jacks
- Quick Reflex
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
- Flip's Wild Card
- Hand-Out Wild Card
- Impromptu Wild Card
OIL AND WATER
- Early Oil And Water
- Floating Phase
- Veeser Phase
- Oil Slick And Water Wonderful
FARO FOOLERY
- Easy-Way Faro-Fooler
- Faro Riffle Shuffle
- Incomplete Faro Transposition
LOCUS-POCUS
- Conditional Find
- S-D Location
- Countdown Disclosures
- O. Henry Find
- Ten Paces To The Right
- Reversal Track
- Tossed-Timated
- Yore Finder
- Inconclusive Climax
- Card Number
- Covert Coin
- Ethnic Card Trick
- X Marks The Spot
- For The Color Blind
COLLECTORS
- Cervon's Ambush
- Taking Flight
- MIRRORING
- Blind Date
- Match-A-Matic
- Matching Prediction
- Right Number
TRANSPOTENTIAL
- Back And Forth
- Colorful Cased-In Transpo
- Signature Rush
- Underground Transposition
- Bridge
- Vise Versa 1
- Vise Versa 2
PACKET PRESTIDIGITATION
- Blushing Jokers
- Partial Ascanio
- Jackpot
- Inversion
- Inversion Follow-up
- Herb's Variant
MORE ARCH TRIUMPHS
- Count-Down Triumph
- Flip-Flop Triumph
- Spade Shuffle Triumphs
- Zen Triumph
TRANSFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS
- Deck In Parvo
- Micro-Macro Handling
- Spirit Production and Transposition
TWISTS
- Pineapple Twist
- Pineapple Preserve
- Twist'In
- Turning Up
ROUND-UP FOR ROUNDERS
- Second Power Poker And Lead In
- Sloppy Drunk Poker
- Super Stoned Poker Deal
- The Sting
- Up The Sleeve Again
- Vernon's Aces Plus Kings
- Magician vs. Gambler
- Monte Mingle Move
- Deal Dodge
NODS TO HOFZINSER
- One Spectator D.M.
- Mini-Observation Test
- Last-Minute Departure
- Kung-Fu Card
- York's Surprise Stab
- The Lady Stretches
- They're All Alike
- Tabled Riffle Shuffle Control
- Recall and Neglect
- Double Speller
- More Mental Reverses
- Cliff Green's Return Flight
- Unpublished Handling of Cliff Green
- Stull-Less Watch Stunner
- Unexpected Signed Card To Wallet
- Cosmic Card
- Working Against Time
- Rouge En Noir
- Flight
HAUNTED
- Zany Gaff
- Veiled Tosheroon
- Impromptu Multiple Haunted Pack
- Tosheroon Two
- Seven-Up Float Treatise

COINS

OKITO NEATO
- Another Tabled Transpo
- Tabled Transpo Plus
- Ungaffed Tabled Transposition
- O-Korto Box Rides Again
- Magnetic Marlo Meets Okito
CLASSICS
- Cap and Pence Handling
- Copper and Silver: Cupped and Cozy
- New Theory Coins Across
- Midas Touch
- Easy Thievery
UNCLASSIFIED
- Gypsy Switch
- Dematerializing Coins
- Kneet!
- Six To One
- Silent Gypsy
- Pursed Coins Of Ishtar
- Extinguished Smoker
- Coin And Tip
- Variation
- Tip
RING-AND-ROPE
- Ringer
- Right On!
Afterword