Program Review for Mystery by daringnyc, Sex Majic Workshop, Toronto

[Editor: This testimonial was written by a student of Mystery's, about an experience that he had on a live program with Mystery. At the time, Mystery's company was called "The Mystery Method" -- even when he was teaching it by himself in Canada -- and he also referred to his method by that same name. And so you can see that this student's original writing references that name (Mystery Method). However, Venusian Arts is a new company, unaffiliated with the old Mystery Method corp. Venusian Arts features Mystery, Matador, and Lovedrop, and Venusian Arts does not teach the mystery method. It has developed and teaches new and improved seduction methodology. We want to make it clear that the below testimonial is not a Venusian Arts testimonial. But it is a real and historical student testimonial, written by a student who studied and trained with Mystery in the field. The student owns the copyright to this testimonial and it is reprinted here with permission.] 

I just finished the Sex Magic workshop this past Saturday in Toronto (the workshop took place January 24-26). Here is my outing report and review on it. It is somewhat long, but I want to highlight what I thought were the major points of the workshop. For the lazy bums among you, skip ahead to my summary at the end.

Day 1

There were only two students – a Canadian SSer, who's a friend, and I – tonight. We met up with Mystery at the Indian Motorcycle Club in Toronto. I'd met Mystery before a year ago in Toronto (I'm from Buffalo). For about 3.5 hours, Mystery asked us questions, explained his philosophy, and elaborated on the format of the Mystery Method. He gave us advice on our dress and style and so on. I was told, for example, that I could pull off doing a model routine, and that I should frost my hair, and get a fake tattoo on my neck. He also talked a lot about the game metaphor for pick-ups. We were thrown a lot this night. After this lecture, we headed downstairs (we were on the third floor, which was relatively deserted) and went into action. We all put on big smiles as we entered. I am not used to smiling all the time when I am out at clubs, so this took a little getting used to. But, as Mystery said, the biofeedback when you smile does lighten your mood a little. Immediately, as I went to check my coat, Mystery told me to approach the coat check girl, and gave me an opener and a routine to do. I went in with a big smile, said "hi", and delivered my stuff. It was great – she was smiling and definitely intrigued – some nice reactions. After a short time, I exited gracefully and said that I would catch her later in the night. This was a good start to an eye-opening weekend. The place has a slightly older crowd – more people in their 30s and early 40s and not as many in their 20s. The rest of the night, Mystery pointed out what sets to approach, gave us some good openers and a couple of routines, and had us dive into action. It was fast-paced and fun. He also demonstrated with a few sets, and I learned a good deal by watching him work a room. His flashy displays and magic tricks attracted attention, and not just from the set he was working on. I could see heads turn in his direction in his vicinity, people intrigued and fascinated by what this guy was doing. There were lots of smiles and laughter, and one woman went up to him afterwards and complimented him on his amazing "kinetic energy." A guy bought him a drink because he'd seen Mystery on TV.

I approached about 4 sets tonight. Although I didn't get any closes, I did learn a good bit. I got experience in approaching groups. One of the first sets I approached, I went in asking, "Do you believe spells work?" This was addressed to a couple, which was part of a larger group. The woman asked me later if I just go up to people asking this question. I said yes, because my friends and I were having a discussion about the movie Poltergeist, and I was curious as to what others' opinions were. She thought it was very cool that I did this. Now, before the workshop, I would rarely approach groups. Groups intimidated me, especially ones with guys in them. But I learned that groups are really not so scary, and that guys are great to talk to and befriend! On the other hand, one-sets suck. Mystery had me approach a one-set to learn why it sucks. Sure enough, a minute after I approached the one-set, her friend came over and distracted her, taking her away. Still, she asked me for my name as I was exiting, and that's an IOI (indicator of interest).

At the beginning of the night, Mystery had pointed out a very cute waitress that he wanted. The timing was not right then, though, and he did not go in. Later in the night, he spotted the same waitress walking around and stopped her with "I wanted to meet you." Then, he went into his routine, talking with her about 7 minutes standing and moving her to the couches and talking to her there for another 10 minutes or so. During this time, he was able to handle an guy obstacle who entered. There was good kino soon enough, and he ended up number-closing her (and getting a mouth-closed kiss). It was impressive stuff.

After this, as the place was dying, we went near the dance floor (where we would normally never be), and Mystery did a few magic tricks on the dance floor. He moved in on a two-set, and found out that the guy was the boyfriend. He did not hit on her, so it was fine, and he exited nicely.

On the whole, even though I did not approach as many sets as I had hoped to do – I was busy watching Mystery demonstrate much of the time – I still learned A LOT from this night. Mystery's showmanship and magnetic presence were quite impressive. One complaint would be that he was not watching us closely as we approached the entire time, and we needed to tell him what happened in order for him to give us feedback. This is understandable, though, since he is only one person, and he cannot be watching or talking to everyone at the same time. Also, Mystery was without a wingman the entire weekend, and it would have been nice to at least have one experienced wingman help the students while Mystery might have been busy watching and helping another student. Finally, we spent only about 2.5 hours in the field, when I wished we could have spent closer to 3.5 hours. This can be excused, however, since the expository material, which was quite valuable, took up a lot of time.

On the whole, a good night. I am not usually this comfortable at making approaches, but armed with some good openers and routines, and seeing the field as just a PRACTICE field, I did not feel any fear in approaching sets. I pretended it was a Holodeck. It was great.

Day 2

We met up for the initial talk at Chapters, a bookstore. Another student, who had missed the first night, showed up. Unfortunately, we spent the bulk of the time getting this third student up to speed. I can see that he's pretty inexperienced, and would potentially have a tough time at the workshop. In my opinion, the workshop is not designed for a complete newbie. Mystery will point out a set, give you some pointers on how to open, and you are literally approaching in the next 3 seconds. The other student and I had gone clothes shopping at the mall earlier in the day, and I was sporting some cool clothes. Mystery was disappointed that I still had not gotten a fake tattoo – I did not have time – oh, well. The third guy, however, was completely unprepared for the night. He was dressed in a white shirt and tie, and jeans. The jeans would later cause problems.

I have nothing personal against this third student, but I think Mystery should make it a policy for students to attend all three nights. We spent too much time backtracking and reviewing things for this third student and too little time learning new things. Instead, I would have wanted him to teach us a few more routines. I still only had 2 or 3 routines to entertain groups with, and I did not feel quite prepared for the night.

We headed to a bar across the street. Our plan was to stay at the bar for at most 40 minutes, and then head to a club that Mystery got us on the guest list at. Things did not turn out as planned, however, because the third student could not get nice pants at that time of the night, and he was not going to get in with jeans. This was a disappointment for me, as I did not quite like the first place (I did not think there were enough targets, for one thing), and I was hoping to only stay for a short time. But I was still determined the make the most of the evening.

I approached more sets tonight – about 6 or 7 in total. We got a good 3.5 hours in the field. I fucked up the groups quite a few times – approaching the target first by accident, approaching a set that had already been approached by my friend, approaching a group at a pool table and not being able to get the attention of the target, etc. – but I still learned from all of them. Again, it was quite helpful to watch Mystery in action as he entertained and dazzled one set after another. He number-closed a cute beer girl quite easily, even while she was distracted by customers trying to buy beer. When he wasn't getting IOIs from the target in one set he worked for about 15 minutes, he introduced me to a couple of girls and told me to demonstrate graphology (handwriting analysis), which I'm great at. Soon, I had a girl (one of Mystery's obstacles) isolated and was doing her handwriting. She looked cute from a distance, but when I got closer, she turned out to be old – not ancient, but older than I usually go for (I'm 25). Still, I had a good time with her and talked to her about energy and Huna and that kind of stuff. She was all into it, and I was getting some good reactions. I could have probably number-closed her, but I chose not to. Soon enough, Mystery's target (which he didn't get enough IOIs from) entered our group and commented that we seemed to be in a deep conversation. It was all happening so fast, and I didn't immediately recognize that this girl might have actually been interested in me. I only talked with her very briefly. If I had better skills, I might have been able to turn this into a close, but it was still a good learning experience. I exited soon after that, but I could still see the girls kind of looking over at me later in the night. I learned the power of enthusiasm and smiling.

Mystery's most amazing demonstration was his last set of the night. He spotted a birthday party group, found the perfect angle at which to enter, and after entertaining the entire group with a couple of routines, found himself on the couch right next to his target! He is going one-on-one with her, fascinating her with his many routines, and getting good kino and other IOIs. My friend and I are watching all of this from a few feet away. The cool thing is that Mystery had pointed this girl out as the girl he wanted earlier in the night. She is definitely hot, almost an HB9. A guy cockblock enters later, and Mystery enlists my help to get rid of him. I happily obliged.

Soon, the place is closing up, and Mystery goes for the number close. The birthday girl, who I actually talked to earlier and who is pretty drunk by now, tries to wreck the whole thing. She tries to pull the target away (Mystery didn't get an opportunity to disarm this obstacle earlier), but it doesn't matter. It's clear that the target is really into Mystery, and she was not going to be simply pulled away by her friend. Her friend tries to take the pen away from her as she is writing her number, but she is unsuccessful. Eventually, the friend manages to pull the target some distance away from Mystery, and you can hear Mystery saying, "Who's in control…who's in charge?" This simple challenge motivates the girl to move back towards him, but her friend is too strong, and Mystery walks out of the room after her. Mystery tells the target that he will call her at 2 pm the next day, and the friend says, "I'll be there." None of this interference from the obstacle matters. It was an impressive display.

Day 3

My friend and I went to a magic shop and picked up a thumb tip, which is a great tool, a book on mentalism, and some other stuff. We are working on expanding our repertoire of routines and tricks.

We meet up at Chapters again. Mystery told me to approach a two-set with a HOT blonde (the obstacle was pretty hot as well), which I discovered soon enough was a little young (maybe 16), but still had some fun with them. I did some handwriting analysis, got them smiling and laughing, and tried to go for a quick close. I fumble the number close – she mentions a serious boyfriend – but I learn. I needed to do more work before going for a close. She was vegetarian anyways.

In the meantime, Mystery has entered a two-set with a hot brunette and a guy friend. He would discover later that she is only 15 (she definitely looked older – about 18), but, what the hell, we are just having fun, and 14 is the age of consent in Canada. He entered with the pretext of borrowing a chair from their table, but worked his magic right away. After about 10 minutes, she joined our table, and he demonstrated runecasting. It's brilliant, and both the girl and the guy are absolutely floored by the demonstration. Mystery presented himself as an authority – she wanted to be a singer, and he told her he is a performing artist. He gets a number close, and we dissected runecasting downstairs. Runecasting is an awesome routine!

We headed to a strip club next. Mystery's girlfriend actually works at the place. He had some fun with the waitresses, totally breaking their frames and their programs. He went into an analysis of how to work strip clubs, and it's absolutely brilliant stuff. Mystery has had several stripper girlfriends, and he knows more about how to work strip clubs than anyone else I know. As he explained his strategies, I see the beautiful logic of it all. Although I rarely go to strip clubs, it's definitely golden advice for when I do decide to hit one later. Mystery also taught up mnemonics and the money bag routines – all good stuff.

My friend bought the POWER-LEV from Mystery; it's a device that he invented. Get this device if you really want to dazzle a girl! It allows you to levitate beer bottles and other heavy objects right in front of an HB. Mystery would sometimes spot a group, take 30 seconds to do the trick and then just walk away! You invariably get wide-mouthed reactions, and the girls beg you to come back to do more!

We headed to a rather exclusive club next. Mystery's sorta-girlfriend was supposed to get us on the guest list, but, for some reason, we are not, and I was a little annoyed. I was hoping to hit a place with a more exclusive crowd (and hopefully more HBs), especially after what happened the previous night, but we had no luck. We went instead to a bar called the Fez Batik. The place is okay – not too many HBs, but still a decent practice area. The place is a little strange, and I don't do very well tonight. The first set, for example, went nowhere. I approached a group and found myself talking to only one of the obstacles. My energy is somewhat lacking, and I only get lukewarm reactions from this set. Also, the ESP routine that Mystery taught us does not work for me AT ALL. It failed every single time, and I lost credibility early. I think I am going to ditch this routine. Anyways, at the end, I exit, and I swear that this dumbass AFC guy sitting near the girl starts busting up laughing. I was tempted to kick his ass (and I easily could have), but I didn't want to waste my energy and deal with this stupidity, so I moved on to greener pastures. Incidentally, I had this huge zit on my face near my eye the entire weekend, and I'm pretty sure that this took away from the effectiveness of my approaches this weekend, especially tonight. What perfect timing for a zit! Grrr… After this zit is gone, however, watch out!

I only did about 4 sets at the bar. I messed up one two-set that approached later in the night. I tried to address the obstacle more, but she actually didn't hear me and started dancing! So I ended up talking to the target, who turned out to be pretty ugly on closer inspection. She wasn't reacting well to my routines, so I quickly exited after giving her a neg. As I turned, I think that the same AFC dumbass from before started laughing (I didn't bother to look at his face). This asshole must have been following me or something and watching me from a distance. What a loser. Next time I see him, he's getting his ass whipped.

The second set I approached was a two-set. I did not do very well and I managed to ignore the target (about an too well and she left! So I ended up talking to the obstacle (about a 7) exclusively and thought I would get some practice in closing. I did a few of Mystery's routines, but also added in my own routines. By this time, I was making up stories on my own and getting out rough versions of 2 or 3 of my own routines. One of the benefits of the workshop is that as you engage in conversations with your sets or even your friends, you find that you get fresh ideas for stories or routines all the time, and I love it! Anyways, after running some routines and SS patterns and some value elicitation, I simply go for the number close. I got the number even though the girl knew I lived in Buffalo.

Mystery got two numbers tonight. He closed an HB9 near the bar. It was pretty amazing, because he simply blasted through her resistance. At first, when he went for the close, she said, "Well, you can meet me here next Saturday." Mystery told her, 'No, that's not what we're going to do…" He went on to tell her that he will meet up with her soon, and that he will call her the next day. She must have been pretty shocked at this response, and went silent. He got the number soon afterwards, and she was mouthing "Tomorrow" to him as he was walking away. Great stuff!

Near the end of the night, Mystery worked a set on the couches. I did not see the entire approach, but towards the end, he was holding an HB's hand, getting good kino, and as she is walking away, she says to him, "You're a bad boy…you are so bad…" It was some kick-ass stuff, because that is precisely the image that Mystery intends to present. I was pretty amazed that the girl actually said this to him. This girl was HOT, too – she was definitely a 9.

At the end of the night, Mystery gave each of us his assessments of our performances. He told me that I am the fastest of the group – I cannot disagree with a master. He said that I just need to practice more and come up to speed so that I can go sarging with him some more.

All in all, despite a few mishaps and some disappointments, this was a great workshop and definitely worth the money. I feel that I can take the skills and knowledge I picked up from the workshop, read up more on the Mystery Method, especially the specific routines, and in a month or two, after tons of practice, become GREAT at doing pick-ups in bars and clubs. There's A LOT to absorb during the workshop, so don't worry if you feel a little overwhelmed and don't become instantly good at your pick-ups. I know I did not exactly come out with all of my guns firing. But I also know that I WILL internalize all of this soon enough, and I will be posting some great outing and lay reports soon – watch for them! HBs in Buffalo will have never seen anyone like me.

Summary

1. If you are fairly comfortable at approaching girls, and don't stall in your conversations after just a minute or two, this workshop WILL improve your skills. If you NEVER approach girls, however, and cannot accept failure and being more than who you currently are, this workshop will not be very helpful.

2. Mystery is an amazing performer and PUA. All the girls he closed this weekend were hot.

3. I wish Mystery would have done a little less demonstrating and more working with the students individually. It would have been also helpful for him to have an experienced wingman there to help the students along.

4. I wish we had at least gone to a higher-class, more exclusive, and more beautiful-people place for at least one night. I felt there were not quite enough HBs at the places we visited, so I didn't feel as motivated to approach and to close.

5. All in all, the workshop ROCKED. Mystery will teach, show, and have you DO the Mystery Method, and you will come out a different person. I know I have.