So, you have purchased the latest effect used by magician X. It costs you hundreds of pounds and does all the work for you. What does that teach you about magic, what great skill have you learnt here?
It seems to me that many young people who start in magic want it all and want it now. They want to do all the flashy magic they see magician X do on his / her TV special. But stop to think for a minute, there is something more powerful than the lastest gimmick. It is called a book!
A good magic book can contain many great effects and often has many new sleights to learn. Ok it won't always tell you how Magician X did his latest effect. However you can learn a lot from a great book.
Try to see some of the old magic books, the Victorian ones contain some stunning magic, routines and techniques that we would never think of using now. This knowledge is in danger of being lost forever because of the younger generations devotion to flashy gadets.
There are many modern magicians producing wonderful books that sometimes get overlooked because the youth of today want instant results. A check in your local library will produce wonderful results, you will find many classic card magic books contains many tricks you can do and with a regular deck of cards.
If you say "books can't give instant results like a gimmick" then you are very wrong. The self-working series of books by Fulves contain a wide variety of magic you can perform very quickly.
Take some time to read about the history of magic, think of it as an art and you will get so much more from it. The great magicians of the past probably started with a good book. So if it is good enough for them it is good enough for you.
Don't like books then try the DVDs. I have seen many card DVDs for all skill levels, some even have self-working effects on them. Just look at the Royal Road to Card Magic DVD boxset. This contains a wealth of information that will help you throughtout your lifetime. The time you have purchased the latest gimmicks you could have purchased this by now.
The same principle applies to coin magic there are great books and DVDs to be found on the subject. The BOBO book really is a classic of coin magic, you will find that many famous names began with this book. It can be heavy going at times but you will gain so much from it. It contains enough material for you to produce some wonderful coin magic and all for a very low price.
PLEASE NOTE: this is a general comment, not aimed at JJ but many new people in magic.
