Phase One: Separation—Stirring Interest and Desire
1 Choose the Right Victim page 167
Everything depends on the target of your seduction. Study your prey thoroughly, and choose
only those who will prove susceptible to your charms. The right victims are those for whom you
can fill a void, who see in you something exotic. They are often isolated or unhappy, or can
easily be made so—for the completely contented person is almost impossible to seduce. The
perfect victim has some quality that inspires strong emotions in you, making your seductive
maneuvers seem more natural and dynamic. The perfect victim allows for the perfect chase.
2 Create a False Sense of Security—Approach Indirectly page 177
If you are too direct early on, you risk stirring up a resistance that will never be lowered. At
first there must be nothing of the seducer in your manner. The seduction should begin at an
angle, indirectly, so that the target only gradually becomes aware of you. Haunt the periphery
of your target's life—approach through a third party, or seem to cultivate a relatively neutral re-
lationship, moving gradually from friend to lover. Lull the target into feeling secure, then strike.
3 Send Mixed Signals page 185
Once people are aware of your presence, and perhaps vaguely intrigued, you need to stir their
interest before it settles on someone else. Most of us are much too obvious—instead, be hard to
figure out. Send mixed signals: both tough and tender, both spiritual and earthly, both inno-
cent and cunning. A mix of qualities suggests depth, which fascinates even as it confuses. An
elusive, enigmatic aura will make people want to know more, drawing them into your circle.
Create such a power by hinting at something contradictory within you.
4 Appear to Be an Object of Desire—Create Triangles page 195
Few are drawn to the person whom others avoid or neglect; people gather around those who
have already attracted interest. To draw your victims closer and make them hungry to possess
you, you must create an aura of desirability—of being wanted and courted by many. It will
become a point of vanity for them to be the preferred object of your attention, to win you away
from a crowd of admirers. Build a reputation that precedes you: If many have succumbed to
your charms, there must be a reason.
5 Create a Need—Stir Anxiety and Discontent page 203
A perfectly satisfied person cannot be seduced. Tension and disharmony must be instilled in
your targets minds. Stir within them feelings of discontent, an unhappiness with their circum-
stances and with themselves. The feelings of inadequacy that you create will give you space to
insinuate yourself, to make them see you as the answer to their problems. Pain and anxiety are
the proper precursors to pleasure. Learn to manufacture the need that you can fill.
6 Master the Art of Insinuation page 211
Making your targets feel dissatisfied and in need of your attention is essential, but if you are
too obvious, they will see through you and grow defensive. There is no known defense, how-
ever, against insinuation—the art of planting ideas in people's minds by dropping elusive hints
that take root days later, even appearing to them as their own idea. Create a sublanguage—
bold statements followed by retraction and apology, ambiguous comments, banal talk combined
with alluring glances—that enters the target's unconscious to convey your real meaning. Make
everything suggestive.
7 Enter Their Spirit page 219
Most people are locked in their own worlds, making them stubborn and hard to persuade. The
way to lure them out of their shell and set up your seduction is to enter their spirit. Play by
their rules, enjoy what they enjoy, adapt yourself to their moods. In doing so you will stroke
their deep-rooted narcissism and lower their defenses. Indulge your targets' every mood and
whim, giving them nothing to react against or resist.
8 Create Temptation page 229
Lure the target deep into your seduction by creating the proper temptation: a glimpse of the
pleasures to come. As the serpent tempted Eve with the promise of forbidden knowledge, you
must awaken a desire in your targets that they cannot control. Find that weakness of theirs,
that fantasy that has yet to be realized, and hint that you can lead them toward it. The key is
to keep it vague. Stimulate a curiosity stronger than the doubts and anxieties that go with it,
and they will follow you.