The Astrologer's Wife Can Read Your Mind

The Promise: The Astrologer or his wife can read your mind without you giving any hint.

The Layout: As soon as you enter the astrologer's room, you are required to be seated on the floor. There is a raised platform about 2 ft high from the floor behind which the astrologer is seated. On the opposite end of the platform is an idol of a deity. There is an adjoining room where the astrologer's wife/assistant is waiting to baffle you!

The Plot: The Astrologer makes you believe that he or his wife can read your mind. You are required to write a set of three questions on a piece of note given by the astrologer and insert it in an envelope given to you by the astrologer.

You then hand over the envelope to the astrologer who then places it in front of a deity. The Deity is an idol of a god or anything that could be religious.

The astrologer chats with you for a minute.

The astrologer then calls/beckons his wife/assistant who is in the adjacent room.

The astrologer's wife or his assistant walks to the door that leads to the other room.

He asks the lady if she could mindread the questions that were asked by you.

The lady has no clue about the questions written to you. The questions written down are in a sealed envelope and placed in front of the deity.

She starts telling the questions that you have written down the on the paper and are now in an envelope sitting in front of the deity. She tells out the first question on the note is {so and so} and to your surprise, it is the question you had written down on that piece of paper. The Astrologer confirms from you if that were the questions asked by you and is on the paper note, sealed in the envelope. You have no choice except to answer 'yes' as it is indeed the question.

Soon after your confirmation, the astrologer's wife tells the remaining two questions leaving you flabbergasted! You have no choice other than to believe. Also, the astrologer picks up the envelope from the front of the deity and returns the envelope back to you with your note containing the questions.

This is a good enough trick to make you believe whatever they say thereafter. Also, you pay the astrologer handsomely for the predictions that come next.

Well, how can this be possible is what you ponder for the next couple of hours, days till you put it at the back of your memories.

If you have observed carefully, you would have found out the trick adopted by this astrologer.
If you have not and still want to know, here is how it works.

The Cheat: how it works
Step 1:
The note on which the questions are written is inserted in an envelope. The astrologer collects the envelope from you in one of his hands and places a duplicate envelope in front of the deity. The astrologer brings his hand containing the envelope below the platform and drops it there and with his other hand, the duplicate envelope which looks exactly the same is placed in front of the deity. Essentially the envelope containing your questions is with the astrologer.

Step 2:
The raised platform has a purpose. It provides enough concealing to the tricks of the astrologer and also there is a conduit or a passage to the adjoining room from where the astrologer is seated. [shown in picture]. A pulley system inside this conduit lets the astrologer pass the envelope to his wife sitting in the other room.

Step3:
The astrologer's wife reads the contents of the note ( the three questions written by you), memorize it, and sends the envelope back in the same conduit /passage back to the astrologer.

Step4: She then steps up to the door and narrates whatever is on the envelope. All this time you are made to believe that your questions are in the envelope placed in front of the deity.. not true! the envelope with your questions has made a roundtrip to the adjoining room through the very passage in front of you which you think is just a desk-like platform.

Step5: With the envelope back in his hand through the pulley, the astrologer reaches out for the duplicate envelope sitting in front of the deity with his left hand, takes it down, and with his right hand, stretches out and gives out your original envelope.