Learning How To Perform Magic

While as children we mostly look on magicians as just that – people who can control forces that are beyond most normal human beings – as we get older we learn to see that what they are doing is, while exceptionally skilful, not actual magic. This often makes it no less impressive, but what it does do is give us the desire to “see how they do it”.

The difference between magic and illusion is probably thinner than most of us think. No doubt, as soon as we notice that there is trickery at play, many of us become quite passionate in our denunciation of the “magician”. This tendency to draw attention to the absence of “real” magic can result from various impulses, but most of all it will be a way to show that we are no longer taken in (and possibly to hide the fact that we were taken in for longer than we were comfortable with).

While “real magic” involves the bending of natural forces by supernatural means, illusion in its purest form does something similar – it uses the consummate skill of an illusionist to make it appear that nature has been overcome. To do this successfully without anyone being able to explain just how it happened is pretty remarkable in itself – and indeed, may be why so many people are stung when they learn that it is illusion.

You can take this news one of two ways – develop an irrational dislike for all illusionists (even the really good ones), or try to learn how to do it yourself. If you practise hard enough and are possessed of natural skill (no less impressive than supernatural force) then you can make it work for you.