talkmagic.co.uk

Hello,

I am the "The Seer" a mentalist from the great desert. Trained by a modern shaman, and psychic. I have Developed a sense of magic within the field of mentalism. A student of Theatre, poetry, and everything arcane and occult. I am here to present new thoughts of mentalism. A revolutionary i guess you could say. Haha, I am here to commune with others who think like me. Thank you.

Welcome to TM

Hello.

Tell us more.

Welcome! So do you study mentalism as a "trick" or the occult or both?

Alright butt?

Welcome to TM!

Well, im sure my introdution was a little vague. Thank you for you welcome. But yes i study mentalism and i guess you could consider magic, in two lights. That of a conjour, a traditional magician concerned with method and theory. And then i view mentalism and magic from the view of a miracle worker. I see effects as a mode of presenting myself as a shaman. I dont think of creating mystery or awe, I strive to bend perception of reality. I strive to creater belief. Take for example the effect of Al manns marks of Saint Germain. That at its very core is what makes saints, and superstars. At that point it is no longer a trick but a method of inspiring people, creating belief. Also mentalism is rooted in that of medicine men, psychics, spiritualists. Remember the old saying you must realise where you come from, to know where your going. We need to study as "true" mentalists where are art is rooted. We need to study the occult if we are going to present ourselves in that fashion. If we are going to act as swamis, we must become swamis. We must have knowledge of every field that a modern wizard would. Thats why i devote my time to not only magic methods, but studying herbalism and alternative medicine, hermeticism, nature, poetry, hypnosis, meitation, myths and religion. I believe that if you can read a mind, divine the future, and predict certain outcomes, why couldnt you heal, persuade, and guide, as a real shaman would. Even if we never incorporate any of what we learn, why not better our understanding of who we are representing?

Does that make sense to you.? Excuse my errors, but i dont want to tread into untreaded territory,i just wanted to share me ideas, i want to help in the world of mentalism.

So you practice trickery and present it in a shaman manner?

That answer has two sides. I practice trickery yes, but i do not present it wearing robes, and chanting. I present mentalism as a person who has power beyond the average human. I am not a charlatan, for i clearly state all that i do can be accomplished through studying the many magickal arts. But i do not resent "tricks" I would never present the shattering lightbuld in test conditions, or just showing a new trick. I talk about all the different types of meditation, channeling energy and such. You may think im just talking about patter, but being an actor i actually believe that i am channeling energy. I have actually studied the many types of meditation, so i actually do go into another state of being. I encourage my spectator to meditate with me, both of us channeling of energy together. I am not going to disprove the effects of what goes on their, i do believe in the energy centres and such. I know how the trick works...with certain gimmicks, but i believe that i did it with the use of my bodies energy. And after the point of meditation so does my spectator. So no i do not present my magic "like" a shaman. But i do have the knowleedge of a modern shaman. My spectators know that if i can burst a lightbuld with my mind. Then they could come to me to burst their fears through guided meditation. And through my wide studies i actually can. Like i said mentalism and psychic entertaining isnt about just presenting tricks in a "mental" form. Think about how we as mentalists talk so much about making the spectator believe in our powers. But when it comes to the point of when the spectators actually do believe we disprove it. Making the subjects feel dumb and lead-on. What we could do, is present ourselves yes in the manner of real-life shaman (while we're on the subject). Most of the time in the case of a shaman (this is from what i've been taught) the ability to talk to spirits, heal, cast out, show mind over matter, astral project, raise up the dead, levitate, harness our energies, etc.... They are all natural traits leaarned by the shaman himself. We could have no guilt presenting this as real, as long as we don't disclude the spectator in the fact that he has just as much ability to learn what we have presented. Anyone have thoughts on that?

theseer wrote: My spectators know that if i can burst a lightbuld with my mind. Then they could come to me to burst their fears through guided meditation. And through my wide studies i actually can.

Is that to say, you use a 'trick' to draw people to you and give them confidence in what you are saying are your actual abilities - once past the amazement they engage in something quite different.

A bit of a crude analogy, but almost using it as a marketing ploy.
(not meant in a demeaning way).

No, actually quite an amazing analogy, but thats not quite what im getting at. If you have read Constantin Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares, he explains the importance of living who you are portraying. A great example is that of Harry Lorayne. A great card magician who is also a leader in memorization techniques. While teaching memorization techniques he shows his students a basic card trick where he appears to memorize a deck of cards, he lets a student choose a card out of the deck (actually a force), he takes the deck back and looks quickly over the deck again. Apparently due to his speedy faux "memorization" of the deck leaves him knowing what card was displaced. He never leads people into magic, for he is a memorization master to his students. This is how i think of mentalism. I am not a trickster magician. I am an all-knowing mentalist. I am not leading people into tricks. I am showing them my "powers". I must keep my learned esoteric abilities and my mentalism tricks seperated, yet combined. Another example is that of Derren Brown one of the most popular mentalists of our time. Another example is that of Paul Brooks. They portray Themselves as a NLP, and Psychology masters. When in fact most of what they entertain with are cleverly masked basic mentalism "tricks". But they would never reveal that to their audience. For they are mind experts. Their spectators "believe" that not only when they are entertaining they have control over their audience. They believe that off the stage they have that same control. In Paul Brooks case, after the show they could rely on his expertise to guide them through therapy. For not only is he an expierenced mentalist, he is in reality a master of the human mind. What I am getting at is that both on and off the stage you have to be who you present yourself to be. if your stage character is a dark wizard lord (in the case of you bizarre performers) you must study wizardy (the real, not fiction) you must clothe yourself in your performing clothes. You must be go-to guy in the subject of the dark arts. If you want to be a dark wizard lord onstage. You must in your own life take on that role. Morph your reality to fit that of your characters'. If you cant do that don't bother making that your stage persona that of someone you cannot convey into your personal life.

theseer wrote: If you want to be a dark wizard lord onstage. You must in your own life take on that role. Morph your reality to fit that of your characters'. If you cant do that don't bother making that your stage persona that of someone you cannot convey into your personal life.

I don't agree at all. A stage persona serves to enhance the performance and to entertain. Even if it is flawed, it is not the main focus of the show and is therefore quite forgivable.

You use the example of an actor, but an actor plays many different roles at different times, and he can't possibly incorporate them all into his actual personality.

And if he were to do so, then he would be acting all the time and his real personality would cease to exist.



That's quite a terrible thing.

Like you, I am going to have to disagree. As an accomplished stage actor, and a well-studied magician/mentalist, you realise that you cannot convey magic without first conveying yourself. Read the Greats works. "A magician is an actor playing the role of a magician", "You must sell yourself, not the magic" You will find it very hard to do that if you don't believe in what your presenting. You stated that as an actor you are playing many different people at many different times. If you adapted each personality you would have a none existent personality. I guess its my fault for not fully explaining myself. As an actor you must take the character you are playing and put "yourself" into his shoes, taking on his personality and putting out "your" personality. Whenever you are interpeting someone else there is always yourself in it. Like i showed as an example earlier, you are a mysterious dark wizard lord who has studied the arcane and occult. I would expect you in real life to be a quiet and mysterious hermit who studies wizardy and such. Otherwise you have no ground. Let me repeat "no ground" to present your character. My natural personality is that of a typical Libra well-balanced, witty, wise, and well-read. I am also very dark and all-knowing. My character is that of a Playful, yet serious Seer. Onstage I tell of my training in the spiritual, psychic arts, which is true. I was raised by a grandmother, who was all of the above. I have also dedicated my life to studying the esoteric, thus i have ground to stand on when i talk about the many oracles, and such. I have ground to display my character on. For i am my character in one form or another. I would never be able to present myself as a native american medicine man who is always dead-pan and straight faced, because thays not me. As an actor you choose your roles based on the personality you have created for yourself. You must create your character based on who you are and who you will be able to convey truthfully to the audience.

See I understand that. You're saying that you put elements of your personality through in your stage persona. Obviously that's perfectly normal and definitely works.

But saying it backwards is not the same thing - to say that the stage personality you want should be incorporated into your personality.

You just have to find an image which suits you best for performing. Like you said, it probably can't be so far removed from your actual personality so it should bear some resemblance.

I will agree there. My point dont have a character that you cannot convey offstage, because your onstage persona should be your offstage persona. I may be going into this too deep. But when performing may it be onstage or in a magic show, the character you are acting as, soon engulfs the personality of the actor, take Heath Ledger. This is perfect current example he took on the role of the Joker completley erasing himself. To act "is to create human spirit and express it in artistic form" think about that you are creating a spirit, in this case your stage persona. As long as you are performing mentalism this "spirit" lives in you. This spirit may have elements of you inside it, but it could be completley removed from your actual personality.