He stood up, grew wings, and left the meeting

I have, and will continue to persue magic for my entire lifetime. 

Magical expectations

I have lived a life full of magical expectations. Both from the outside world and myself. I supposedly started it – the expectations – but something or some things must have happened for me to become so obsessed with the belief that magic and dreamlike environments and events do exist, and I must figure out how to craft them.

I suppose I am a Dr. Frankenstein type character in this pursuit – stitching together bits and parts of forgotten corpses to create monsters that can live, express,  and be mis-understood.

I still believe that some of the best training in visual design came from the magic lessons I took in High School. I had a great magic teacher (Bruce Spangler) that not only taught us about illusion and stage presence, but about the fundamentals of illusion – timing, visuals & focus.

Backstage for a magician is full of complex needs that the audience (hopefully) never sees – How do I make something appear larger, smaller, taller, or shorter? ….How do a get a handkerchief to look like a dove and a dove to move from it’s hiding place to the sky at the right moment?  The many design applications in a magic act are “do or die” (and boy did I die more than a few times…. Obviously I design for a living and am not headlining in Vegas).

Many creative people are unable to elevate there designs to a magical level because they can’t keep a secret.

To be a magician, you must be able to keep the secrets of the tricks. Once accepted duly in to the fellowships & organizations of magic makers, you are exposed to a huge plethora of “tricks” and “patter”. First the tricks. The secrets of a trick may be any one or combination of the basic forms:  mechanical, directional, mathematical, alchemical, optical or psychological. The second half of learning a trick is the patter. The patter, or verbal script, is different than a normal script, in that it -  A. Often involves audience action or reaction and B. May change based on the interaction and timing of the audience member, and or may change and adapt in timing or order in order to support the trick. Patter is meant to entertain, but also direct and shape the situation.

Magic confirms our existence, 

Inspires our fortitude 

Rights the wrong.

Magic allows us top forget how bad the food was on that last gig.

That triumph and mystery we feel during a magical spell may be a “life supporting illusion”. I will accept that. I’ll take the illusion. It lifts us up rather than pushing us down.

The good magician uses every point of advantage, no matter how small or subtle to contribute to his or her success. It is the accumulation of details that weaves the web of enchantment. Performing successful magic then becomes possible in an atmosphere that has “suspended disbelief”. The client has crossed the storyteller’s threshold.

In contrast, performing magic in an atmosphere of challenge and suspect is close to impossible.  

Many think of magic as “false”. False because it is “illusion” and created through trickery or cheating.

Magic is not trickery.

Trickery – meaning manipulations of reality, is merely one of the tools employed in magic. Trickery is over used and abused, and can give magic a bad taste.

Magic is truth. Magic is real. Magic is actually the highest reality – The highest expression of humanity.