Cracking the Code of Magic: Secrets to Acquiring Hold of its Mysteries

Acquire hold of that may it be magic Magic, a concept that has fascinated and mystified humanity for centuries, holds a certain allure and intrigue. It enchants our imaginations, stirring a desire to tap into the supernatural and gain control over the unexplainable forces of the universe. The idea of acquiring hold of magic is akin to obtaining a key that unlocks a hidden realm of possibilities. Ever since ancient civilizations, humans have sought to harness the power of magic. From the ancient Egyptians' belief in the mystical abilities of their pharaohs to the medieval alchemists' pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone, there has always been a quest for acquiring hold of that which is magical. The allure of magic lies in its ability to defy logic and reason, granting us the ability to transcend the limitations of the natural world.

Just opinions, but I have the advantage of people talking to me 2-30 years after a performance and telling of the experience.

P presence, being here and now for them O organize, being prepared for any situation so as to act incisively and confidently W - willingness to do the work to make them important and open E enthusiasm about what they want and need R respect, for yourself, magic, art, the VA and the audience. most folks I know are mostly often amused by the foibles of others the demonstrated lack of empowerment , but never to their face or at their expense.

The allure of magic lies in its ability to defy logic and reason, granting us the ability to transcend the limitations of the natural world. In modern times, magic has taken on a different form. While we may no longer believe in spell-casting witches or magical potions, we still yearn for the extraordinary.

The monkey chuckles in amusement at the magic trick

I like the idea that magic can be a form of empowerment. Far too often, one can watch magicians making their audience feel stupid and their volunteers on stage look silly. I would much prefer effects that make the audience and the volunteers on stage feel great. Take stage hypnosis, as an obvious example: It is often used to make the hypnitist look great, while hypnosis, as every hypno*therapist* will tell you, is all about the empowerment of the hypnotee.

In magic, some tricks can be presented in a way that they are empowering: I like to perform OotW in a way that underlines the spectator's excellent choices. Then I know some effects that have empowerment as their main theme. Chris Philpott has some of those, like "Anxious Monkey" (on "Pantheon") or "All tied up".

I am looking for more empowerment effects. There must be some out there - any advice?

Empowerment is in the presentation - so take any effect you like and change the presentation. A quick example I can think of is taking PK Touch and make it about the volunteers' ability to connect with each other.

Christopher
Witch Doctor

I have always preferred effects that make either the Volunteer Assistant or magic the hero rather than me. It works!
The VA is also a witness for those in the back seats.

In business consulting it is important to develop trust and put he business owner at ease. So, the concept of "M-powerment" applies there too.

P = presence, being here and now for them
O = organize, being prepared for any situation so as to act incisively and confidently
W - willingness to do the work to make them important and open
E= enthusiasm about what they want and need
R= respect, for yourself, magic, art, the VA and the audience.

the "M" comes from "magic" in the sense of challenging what they consider to be impossible.
In my 40+ years of active consulting I included a magic trick in my presentation/appraisal more that 40,000 times. (not for entertainment, just allegory)

Thus, ANY magic effect can be presented with M-Powerment.

I guess it may be what you wish every spectator to remember about your performance - "must be magic" or "what a jerk."

the "for entertainment" effect that I received the most notable affect from is "Falcon Eye" in which one VA reads the mind of another with me far away.
I don't do it as mentalism - just as a reward for VA's who have shared my stage and helped M-Power my audience.
The idea is that "pretending at magic" has elevated their awareness and empathy. Note my sig-line

I would also add that I always have a special mastered effect in my pouch for the rare occasion that a VA is "more than willing" to help.
You know it will be astounding because of the M-Powerment of the VA freely gifted back to you.

Just opinions, but I have the advantage of people talking to me 2-30 years after a performance and telling of the experience.

a magician came to our school
so many years ago,
and did wondrous skits with balls and rings
that our teacher said were tricks;
and that we must be wary of strangers
who promise impossible things.

But I recall some magic yet,
for he called me to the stage
and transformed me for a moment
into someone bold and brave –
for his eyes were kind and flecked with gold,
and treated me with respect,
though I was only nine.

"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst

Harry Houdini was the most empowering magician ever.

“No prison can hold me; no hand or leg irons or steel locks can shackle me. No ropes or chains can keep me from my freedom.”

The way it works is they associate with the hero: in their heads, it is they who are escaping not Harry.

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.

On Feb 26, 2019, adrianrbf wrote:
I like the idea that magic can be a form of empowerment. Far too often, one can watch magicians making their audience feel stupid and their volunteers on stage look silly. I would much prefer effects that make the audience and the volunteers on stage feel great. Take stage hypnosis, as an obvious example: It is often used to make the hypnitist look great, while hypnosis, as every hypno*therapist* will tell you, is all about the empowerment of the hypnotee.

In magic, some tricks can be presented in a way that they are empowering: I like to perform OotW in a way that underlines the spectator's excellent choices. Then I know some effects that have empowerment as their main theme. Chris Philpott has some of those, like "Anxious Monkey" (on "Pantheon") or "All tied up".

I am looking for more empowerment effects. There must be some out there - any advice?

Watch every TV magician. They all seem like the read the same book. As awesome as they look on screen, they seem to give the power to the participants. They find a way to make it all about the person. I don't like that. I want it to be about me displaying a power. Call it what you will. However, you can always switch the presentation up to be what you want it to be. I recently did Wayne Houchin's French Kiss with business cards and framed it as Thanos snapping his finger making things happen to bend reality. Now that trick has nothing to do with that, but that's where I took it.

"Pushing The Boundaries of What is Possible With Hypnosis"

I often find spectator "empowerment" presentations to be condescending and presumptuous. It isn't easy to convince a spectator that they are the actual cause of an impossible event, and if they know you are just "pretending" that they are, well, then it seems kind of lame to me.

On Mar 15, 2019, Pop Haydn wrote:
I often find spectator "empowerment" presentations to be condescending and presumptuous. It isn't easy to convince a spectator that they are the actual cause of an impossible event, and if they know you are just "pretending" that they are, well, then it seems kind of lame to me.

I agree. BUT. I think that is the magician trying to:

A) Stay Humble and not make it all about themselves
B) Jumping through hoops trying to not take credit for having or claiming supernatural powers

I have never claimed Supernatural powers, but by nature when we do magic, we are therefore doing something supernatural. At the end of the day, I want to take credit for what happened. That's not everyone. I get it. But I want that credit.

"Pushing The Boundaries of What is Possible With Hypnosis"

I agree, Pop. It's easy for this type of presentation to go wrong. The scripting must be delicate, and must take into account the audience's intelligence and common sense.

It's not easy. But if it were, anyone could do it.

Christopher
Witch Doctor

Empowering someone does not require that they be the "cause" of what happens.

Nor does the performer have to "be the cause" in order to take credit for orchestrating the event.

I would stress again the importance of having any Volunteer Assistant be a witness for those spectators far away for the action.
This requires trust and making the individual important and cooperative. Having them be involved in astonishment as well as the action - a form of empowerment.

I certainly think that the assistants in Pop's classic rings routine are empowered and even told they are special and unique.
Yet, no one thinks the magic could occur without Pop being there. He gets the credit while the Assistant and magic are the heroes.

"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst

The good usually lies in between and so on that basis it would be good to share our magic with our audience. One cannot perform magic without an audience, so it follows the audience play their part. As Pop explained it is akin to playing tug with a poppy, give and take and all that.

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.

My concern is not that the spectator should get credit for the magic. Not at all.

To illustrate what I am looking for, let us compare two of Chris Philpott's tricks with the "100th monkey" method:

First, the classical 100th monkey trick: A spectator joins you on stage, you take a sheet of paper with some words on it and show it to the audience. You ask if they can read it, they affirm that they can. Then, you show it to the volunteer on stage, and he/she cannot read it. While this is a great comedy effect when performed well, it is certainly not an empowerment effect: You take away the volunteer's ability to read and make him/her look a bit silly.

On the other hand, consider the "Anxious Monkey" trick from "Pantheon": Again, a spectator joins you on stage, this time, you show the sheet of paper to the audience and they can clearly read some words that express negative feelings. The volunteer holds it so that the audience can see it, while you tell a story that includes positive feelings. You talk about how the mind can overcome negativity and perceive the positive energy and so on. You finally ask the volunteer to look at the card and read what it says, and now he/she will read positive words, not the negative ones that the audience saw.

The latter is clearly an empowerment effect: The volunteer makes the experience that he/she can perceive something differently, in a more positive way.

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.

On Mar 17, 2019, tommy wrote:
One would rather be amused than empowered.

by "one" I assume you mean yourself

most folks I know are mostly often amused by the foibles of others (the demonstrated lack of empowerment), but never to their face or at their expense.
Is staying at the same level of competence while others decline a form of empowerment? (see Billy Joel) Regardless, they do not choose "amusement" as a preference.

Methinks others in an audience may enjoy seeing either the performer or volunteer seemingly more empowered since they can share such in imagination,
but "amused?" If they are amused by the plight of a volunteer the performer has possibly failed in his/her task - if on purpose it is bullying, if accidental it is inept.

Surely, the universal popularity of 'pretending at magic' is based on empowerment or the yearning for it.

I love Pop's performances where everyone laughs WITH the antics, but never AT the volunteer.

When the volunteer succeeds everyone cheers, for they also feel empowered.

"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst

When a magician starts talking about the power of positive thinking, then his audience will start to smile and receive the proposition with absolute incredulity and be rather amused than empowered. Whether I "prefer" to be amused or empowered is "rather" irrelevant.

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.

I think the objective of magic should be entertainment and create wonder. Even laymen realize it's a trick so I don't think the trick can really be empowering. However your patter can definitely inspire.

On Mar 17, 2019, tommy wrote:
When a magician starts talking about the power of positive thinking.

I fully agree! Which is why I would never do such a thing as a way of empowering folks.

Maybe it is just enough to focus on not diminishing any sense of pride or presence or joy a volunteer may have when they come up.

For me, both the volunteer and audience should feel better about the experience.
With society constantly dragging people down, perhaps the greatest affect of magic is pulling them up.
That may not be empowerment to you, but it is to me and all of my volunteers over the last 60 years.

Thanks for the divergent angle, though - I will rewrite a couple of chapters in a pending book to cover any possible confusion over volunteer selection and management.

"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst

On Mar 17, 2019, magicianbrady wrote:
Even laymen realize it's a trick so I don't think the trick can really be empowering. However your patter can definitely inspire.

Tricks, no. Magic effects, yes. What the observer perceives, feels, remembers and tells others about can all lead to empowerment.

Is 'inspiration' empowerment or just part? Words and be important, certainly, as well as how they are said and a balance with silence.

The very concept of awe & wonder being kindled has the potential for empowerment of self, a volunteer and a distant spectator.

I was mentored many decades ago that the magician's last thoughts for the day should be,

*What did I learn from today's performance that will help be better create astonishment tomorrow?"

"What did I learn today that will make of me a better person tomorrow?"

ideas to entertain.

"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst

When a magician starts talking about the power of positive thinking, then his audience will start to smile and receive the proposition with absolute incredulity – which is precisely what the magician wants, because then he can go on and prove the absolutely incredible true!

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.

Go for it tommy! I would love to see a video of you performing such a routine.

That's not what I want from my audience, but glad it works for you.

I will be especially interested to see how handle volunteer selection and care - the theme of this thread.

"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst

I think all the magic in all the world begins with an incredulous proposition. I have never heard of anybody doing credible magic.

If the audience finds the proposition credible then what would be the point of proving it is true? Mind you, if you did propose the credible and prove it, I suppose you could bill yourself as the most boring magician in the world. Ladies and Gentlemen, you may find this very easy to believe, but I am now going to pour myself a cup of tea before your very eyes, watch!

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.

I would also add that I always have a special mastered effect in my pouch for the rare occasion that a VA is "more than willing" to help.
You know it will be astounding because of the M-Powerment of the VA freely gifted back to you.

We seek to tap into the magical realm through technology, art, and the wonders of the natural world. Whether it is the awe-inspiring beauty of a sunset, the immersive experience of virtual reality, or the mind-bending capabilities of artificial intelligence, we are constantly searching for ways to acquire hold of that sense of wonder and enchantment. But what exactly does it mean to acquire hold of magic? Is it simply about gaining knowledge and understanding the secrets behind magical phenomena? Or is it about channeling our inner power and embracing our own extraordinary abilities? Perhaps it is a combination of both. To truly acquire hold of magic, one must be open to the unknown, willing to explore the depths of their own imagination, and embrace the mystical forces that lie within and beyond. Acquiring hold of magic requires a shift in mindset. It is about letting go of preconceived notions and limitations, and embracing the infinite possibilities that lie before us. It is about acknowledging that magic is not just an external force, but an intrinsic part of who we are as human beings. We each possess the potential to tap into the extraordinary and create our own version of magic in the world. In conclusion, the quest to acquire hold of magic is a timeless pursuit that transcends cultural, historical, and technological boundaries. It is a journey of self-discovery, wonder, and awe. Whether through the traditional practices of ancient civilizations or the modern wonders of science and technology, humans will always seek to tap into the magical realm and acquire hold of its inherent power. So let us embrace our inner enchantment, unlock the secrets of the universe, and embark on a lifelong exploration of all that may be magical..

Reviews for "Acquiring Hold of the Magic: The Path to Unlocking its True Potential"

1. John - 1 star

I was sorely disappointed by "Acquire hold of that may it be magic". The plot was confusing and lacked coherence, making it difficult to follow. The characters were shallow and poorly developed, and I found it hard to care about their struggles. The writing style was also a letdown, with clunky and awkward sentences that did not flow well. Overall, this book felt like a half-hearted attempt at creating a magical and enchanting world, but unfortunately, it fell short in every aspect.

2. Sarah - 2 stars

"Acquire hold of that may it be magic" lacked originality and failed to engage me as a reader. The story felt like a derivative of other fantasy novels, with predictable plot twists and clichéd characters. The dialogue was stilted and lacked authenticity, making it difficult to connect with the characters. Additionally, the pacing was off, with certain parts dragging on while others felt rushed. Overall, this book did not live up to my expectations and I would not recommend it to others.

3. Michelle - 2 stars

I found "Acquire hold of that may it be magic" to be an underwhelming read. The world-building was shallow and lacked depth, leaving me wanting more. The plot was predictable and lacked surprises or twists that would have made it more captivating. The writing style was mediocre, with long-winded descriptions and excessive use of unnecessary adjectives. I did not feel invested in the characters' journeys, and their motivations seemed forced and unconvincing. Overall, this book did not deliver the magic and enchantment it promised.

Unlocking the Secrets of Magic: Steps to Acquiring Hold of its Unlimited Potential