Practice
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Magic Clubs
If asked, I will readily admit that I have been a member of the IBM and the SAM. I reached the second level of the Order of Merlin before dropping out during the pandemic. I believe that I reached more than ten years with SAM in spite of my many in’s and out’s. Currently I’ve… Continue reading
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Learning Magic
There’s an assumption in many areas of life but especially in magic. It’s that we know how to learn. We assume that since we attended school and graduated with a degree from high school or college that we learned how to learn. After a corporate education career, I would argue that perhaps some but not… Continue reading
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Toni Forster on Magic Books
Until recently I had not heard of Dr. Forster. I purchased Ted Lesley’s Paramiracles published by Hermetic Press book from a second hand dealer. It had come out about 30 years ago and, for some reason, hadn’t shown up on my radar screen. Dr. Forster was a friend and confidant of Lesley’s and, for a… Continue reading
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Exploring Performance
Magic, whether you consider it an art or a craft or, perhaps, both, only exists for a moment or two. The performer and the audience co-create an experience that triggers a reaction and an emotion. Magic doesn’t exist outside of the performance space between the performers and the participants. It’s relational. It doesn’t exist in… Continue reading
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Minimum Requirements
In the opening essay of Shattering Illusions, Jamy Ian Swiss states: When you fool the audience you indeed fulfill the essential mandate of your job. But you have in no way come even remotely close to completing the job-much less having done the job well.There must — simply must — be some larger end in… Continue reading
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Question Our Conditioning
In 1995, Hermetic Press published what ended up being a controversial book, Magic and Meaning. I don’t believe it was intended to be controversial by either the publisher nor the authors, Eugene Burger and Robert E. Neale. It was an extension of conversations that the authors had during their time together at the Mystery School… Continue reading
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The Persistent Myth of Learning Styles
It was probably in the mid-90’s that I first heard about learning styles. I was early in my time in the training and development department of a large nonprofit foundation. Our manager at the time introduced us to the idea of learning styles at a team retreat. Like everyone else, I went along with it.… Continue reading