Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ and the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Christian holiday celebrated on February 2nd. While it holds religious significance for Christians, it also has pagan roots that can be embraced by those interested in honoring ancient traditions. **One way to embrace the pagan roots of Candlemas is by exploring the connection to Imbolc, a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of spring.** Imbolc, celebrated around the same time as Candlemas, is associated with fertility, growth, and the return of the sun. By incorporating elements of Imbolc into Candlemas celebrations, individuals can connect with nature, celebrate new beginnings, and honor the changing seasons. **Another way to embrace the pagan roots of Candlemas is by incorporating the symbolism of fire and light into the celebrations.

Drinking Pappy Van Winkle With The 'Millionaires' Magician' Steve Cohen

Millionaires' Magician Steve Cohen makes Pappy Van Winkle appear at Rarities.

Anyone who can make three bottles of Pappy Van Winkle appear is a magician in my book. After seeing his 'Chamber Magic' show at the Lotte New York Palace I met with Steve Cohen — known as the Millionaires' Magician — at the hotel's elegant hidden bar Rarities which kindly conjured up bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 10, 20 and 23 for us. Along with amazing card tricks and sleights-of-hand the highlight of Cohen's act is 'Think-a-Drink' where the audience names their favorite beverages — from Martinis to Lemonade — and they are all magically poured, one after the other, from the same tea kettle. Cohen and I discussed how he became the magician for millionaires, how he discovered his favorite bourbon and what is really the most important part of any magic trick.

What started your journey in magic?

I've been doing magic since I was 6 years old. I performed at all my family gatherings. My aunt said "Steve, you have the gift of gab and that's going to take you far." And to me magic was about sleight-of-hand not presentation — but she reminded me the magic doesn't happen in your hand. It happens in the audience's mind.

So connecting with the audience is just as important as any physical skill?

David Berglas, one of the iconic magicians of the 20th century, broke down the formula. In order of importance it's personality, presentation and then the method. And the one thing that can't be taught is personality. People have to like you first. You need to be relatable. You can't stand too far up above them on an ivory pillar. The technique is the bedrock but it can't be the ultimate focus of the performance. The art of magic is to conceal the art.

It's easy for people to look up tricks online now. Do audience members ever try to expose what you're doing?

I haven't had that happen. The ticket price is at high enough a price point that people are not going to heckle me — it's in your left hand! They are invested in it.

Millionaire's Magician Steve Cohen with the magic tea kettle from his signature Think-A-Drink trick.

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How did you become the 'Millionaire's Magician?'

I grew up in Chappaqua where there were a lot of expensive houses. Even though I wasn't wealthy I was comfortable around wealth and I wanted a way to market myself. I was performing at country clubs and yacht clubs and no one had really claimed that market. Penn & Teller are the bad boys of magic, David Blaine was the street magician. I'm performing for millionaires. I started using it in pitches and the media picked it up. It stuck.

How did you discover Pappy Van Winkle?

I was performing my 'Think-a-Drink' trick and someone said they wanted a Manhattan. I asked what bourbon he wanted and he said "I like Pappy Van Winkle, you don't have that!" And I bluffed and said of course I do. I poured him a Manhattan and he drank it down and said "this is great."

After the show a wealthy businessman asked "was that really Pappy?" I said it wasn't and he said "do you want some Pappy Van Winkle? I've got a garage full of them." He doesn't even drink, he collects things: pinball games, cars, watches and bourbon. So he sent me a bottle of Pappy 15 and Pappy 23. I've shared the 15 with friends but I've never opened the 23.

Magician Steve Cohen

Tell me about your 'Think-a-Drink' trick.

It's become my trademark. There's no one else performing it to my knowledge. It's also been known as the 'Bar Act' or the 'Inexhaustible Bottle.' It dates back to at least the 1800s when Robert-Houdin — the magician Houdini named himself after – used to perform the trick with a glass bottle. At the end he would crack the bottle open and there would be a guinea pig inside.

The trick has universal appeal because it's wish fulfillment. They are asking for their favorite drink. Hot chocolate? Do you want that with mini-marshmallows? And I pour out mini-marshmallows. Hibiscus tea? Do you want that hot or iced? Margarita — tequila or mezcal? I've even had sommeliers ask for specific varietals, and they know how to tell a Brunello from a Montepulciano.

Have you ever had a drink with one of your idols?

I had dinner with John Williams the composer at Tanglewood maybe three summers ago. Easily one of the highlights of my life. Growing up I used to play alto saxophone and played many John Williams scores: Star Wars, Superman, all the songs you heard growing up. And being able to talk to him and ask questions about the music, how he creates, what inspired him to write certain pieces — that was a real treat.

You've performed for a lot of celebrities. Any one that was a particular favorite?

Tracy Morgan. I had met him on the street one day and I told him about my show and the next weekend he bought out the whole front row for his family. During the show he was shouting and yelling and screaming and it was hilarious. He's pumping his fist in the air and saying "you're better than Houdini. I'm going to put you on my TV show." He really inserted the right amount of levity. I love it when a celebrity can be a part of the show but not overpower it.

Magician Steve Cohen makes a second bottle of Pappy Van Winkle appear.

You also performed for Carl Sagan.

I was a student at Cornell and he heard through my professor that I was a magician. He called me up and said I'd like you to perform for a group of visiting astrophysicists. I thought there's no way I'm going to fool these guys, they are literally the smartest people on the planet. At end of the show I got a standing ovation. It reminded me that you have to assume the audience is intelligent and is paying close attention. Therefore I have to work harder upfront. Once I create these psychological traps that the audience can't escape from, they will follow the path I put before them.

Which has been your favorite of the Pappys today?

I like the 10 best. I've had similar experiences with Japanese whiskies. Some of the younger ones had a better taste to me. The older ones aren't necessarily better.

You've kind of performed another trick — you managed to finally drink the 23 without opening your own bottle.

That's the beautiful thing about working at The Palace. I think we're both lucky and getting some magic here.

Steve Cohen performs his 'Chamber Magic' show every Friday and Saturday night at the Lotte New York Palace including upcoming Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve shows.

To learn more about Rarities and their collection of rare spirits, wines and champagnes visit their website.

For His Latest Trick, the Millionaires’ Magician Has Taken Up Running

Steve Cohen, a longtime magician for celebrities and world leaders, became hooked on marathoning since running his first one in 2018.

For most of his life, Steve Cohen has been known for his impressive sleight of hand as the host of Chamber Magic, a live weekly show at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel. In fact, during our video interview, the “Millionaires’ Magician” made my favorite card, the ace of hearts appear out of thin air twice.

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Now, those close to the performer have started complimenting him on his sleight of foot since he took up running in 2018. It's a newfound skill that Cohen says has improved his expertise as a magician and vice versa.

Until recently, Cohen, 51, never considered himself an athlete. He joined the track team in high school, competing in the 100-meter dash but quit soon after to participate in the theater program, where he thrived as a performer.

Since starting Chamber Magic in 2000, Cohen has used his shows as his form of exercise, frequently performing six times in a weekend. His audiences, which often include celebrities and royalty, get to enjoy conjuring, mind-reading, sleight of hand, and one of his most famous tricks called “think-a-drink,” in which an audience member requests a specific beverage that magically appears in Cohen's teapot. With the rapid fire energy, preparation, and effort that goes into each performance, Cohen didn't consider outside exercise for many years.

“Magicians are usually couch potatoes and it's rare to find a magician that's incredibly fit,” Cohen says. “That was kind of me.”

In 2015, Cohen's wife Yumi Morishige picked up running and encouraged him to join her. As Cohen recalls, he couldn't keep up with his wife for a full mile during their first run together. “I was huffing and puffing, and she was running loops around me to keep me going,” he says. “That demoralized me.”

After the first run, Cohen joined a gym but realized he needed more stimulation in his workouts. Instead of exercising in the gym, his wife encouraged him to focus on destination workouts, like running to Harry Houdini's house, which is about two miles away from their apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan. Over time, Cohen added more routes that excited him, including a run to Alexander Hamilton's house uptown.

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With more miles under his belt, Cohen and his wife made a bet. If he entered the lottery for the New York City Marathon and gained entry, he would run the race. Cohen lost in 2016 and 2017 but the following year, he received surprising news. While sitting in the theater of the Magic Castle, a private magician's club in Los Angeles, Cohen received an email from the New York Road Runners letting him know that his application to run the marathon was finally accepted. “The first thing that came to my mind was oh shit,” Cohen says.

After spending a few minutes processing the news, Cohen realized he couldn't break the promise to his wife and came around to the idea of becoming a marathoner. “Being a magician is all about making the impossible possible,” Cohen says. “I thought, I'm going to be a magician to myself and I'll make this impossible thing that I thought I could never do, possible.”

In March 2018, Cohen started building up mileage using Hal Higdon's marathon training plan. Because his shows are on the weekends, Cohen has to fit all of his weekly mileage into five days, which means he does his long run on Wednesday.

Prior to the marathon in November 2018, the longest race Cohen had ever run was 100 meters on the track as a high school student. But he embraced the experience as an opportunity to try something different and bring his magic community along for the ride.

Before the race, he sent an email to his fanbase encouraging them to cheer him on during the New York City Marathon. He wore a t-shirt with the king of hearts printed on the front, which helped people recognize him among the thousands of competitors. Throughout the race, fans cheered for Cohen and on several occasions, he even stopped to perform magic tricks, including one in which he penetrates an earphone cord through someone's finger. “There were enough people that it kind of slowed my time down a lot,” Cohen says. “But I don't really care because I wasn't in it to win some PR.”

In his first 26.2, Cohen finished in five hours and 37 minutes and was immediately hooked. After his debut, Cohen joined his wife as a member of the New York Flyers run club.

During the height of the pandemic, the magician didn't perform for 16 months amid COVID lockdowns. In addition to writing two books, running helped Cohen cope with the cancellations. “I didn't have the physical exertion that I normally get while performing,” he says. “You need an outlet for all that stress, so running really did save me.”

In the fall of 2020, he completed the New York City Marathon virtually. For his 50th birthday on February 21, 2021, Cohen ran from his home to the hospital where he was born in Yonkers, New York and back for just over 50K.

In November 2021, Cohen returned to the New York City Marathon in person and took 32 minutes off his previous personal best. This fall, he hopes to break five hours for the first time on the NYC course.

Now four years into his development as a runner, Cohen says the sport has helped elevate his skills as a magician. His posture has improved while on stage, and similar to managing paces in a 26.2-mile race, he's become more efficient in pacing his energy with back-to-back performances. Before he became a runner, Cohen would end the weekend exhausted with pain in his back. Now, he says the endurance gained from running makes him feel like he can add another show to the line-up. Perhaps more importantly, running has given Cohen a newfound sense of accomplishment when he takes the stage in front of world leaders and billionaires.

“The one thing that they can't buy is something you need to accomplish on your own, and if I've accomplished that by having run a marathon, it gives me a great amount of personal strength and it makes me feel they're equal when I'm standing in front of someone who is a very powerful person,” Cohen says. “I feel a lot more self-empowered, and I think that's thanks to running.”

Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.

Steve Cohen

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**Another way to embrace the pagan roots of Candlemas is by incorporating the symbolism of fire and light into the celebrations.** Fire has long been associated with purification and renewal in pagan rituals. Lighting candles and bonfires during Candlemas can be seen as a way to celebrate the return of light after the darkness of winter and to symbolize purification and spiritual transformation.

Steve Cohen Chamber Magic

**Additionally, embracing the pagan roots of Candlemas can involve connecting with the natural world through rituals and activities.** This can include gathering and decorating with early spring flowers, such as snowdrops, which are associated with Imbolc and symbolize hope and renewal. Planting seeds or starting new projects can also be incorporated as symbolic acts of growth and renewal in alignment with the pagan roots of Candlemas. **Furthermore, embracing the pagan roots of Candlemas can involve embracing divination and folk traditions associated with the holiday.** This can include practices such as weather divination, where predictions are made based on the behavior of animals or natural phenomena on Candlemas day. Additionally, engaging in traditional activities like weaving Brigid's crosses -- symbols of protection and prosperity -- can connect individuals to the folklore and traditions surrounding the holiday. Overall, embracing the pagan roots of Candlemas allows individuals to honor ancient traditions, connect with nature, and celebrate the changing seasons. By exploring the connection to Imbolc, incorporating fire and light symbolism, connecting with the natural world, and engaging in divination and folk traditions, individuals can create meaningful and inclusive celebrations that celebrate both the Christian and pagan aspects of Candlemas..

Reviews for "Celebrating Candlemas the Pagan Way: Honoring the Earth and the Divine"

1. Jane - 1 star

I was really disappointed in "Ways to embrace the pagan roots of Candlemas." I expected a more thorough exploration of the pagan origins of this holiday, but instead, the book barely touched on the subject. The author seemed more focused on promoting their own agenda rather than providing any real insight into the historical significance of Candlemas. Overall, this book felt like a missed opportunity and left me feeling unsatisfied.

2. Mark - 2 stars

I have to say, "Ways to embrace the pagan roots of Candlemas" was not what I expected. The book lacked clear organization and failed to effectively tie the pagan traditions to the modern celebration of Candlemas. The author often jumped from one topic to another without providing sufficient context or explanation. Additionally, the writing style was dry and uninspiring, making it difficult to maintain interest. I had hoped for a comprehensive guide to understanding the pagan origins of Candlemas, but unfortunately, this book fell short.

3. Sarah - 2.5 stars

While "Ways to embrace the pagan roots of Candlemas" did touch on some interesting aspects of the holiday's origins, I felt that the information provided was rather surface-level. I was expecting a more in-depth exploration of the pagan customs and rituals associated with Candlemas, but the book only scratched the surface. Some sections felt rushed, while others lacked relevant details. Overall, I found it to be a mediocre read that could have delved deeper into the subject matter.

Pagan Rituals and Symbolism: Celebrating Candlemas with Meaning