talkmagic.co.uk

Okay, my 666th post has come and gone and it raised an interesting question for me. Do magicians, with all their knowledge in the unknown, believe in superstitions like the frightening "666" (or for more liberal people, "616"), or the fact that seeing an owl during the day causes bad luck, or you should never give away one of your wedding presents. I was just wondering if any members really believe in that stuff. I don't myself for the most part, but I think it'd be interesting what everyone else has to say.

Nope

Step on a crack and you'll break your mother's back!

Even those that would swear in blood that they are the epitome of cynicism have their quirks and personal superstitions, it's human nature. Now most will rebuff things like 666 and for me the number 13 and especially Friday the 13th tends to be a matter of great luck vs. the contrary... btw... 666 is NOT the number, Constantine deliberately ordered that the actually number used by John in his visions never be shared... or so the stories go...

Human beings have their rituals and peculiarities or else we wouldn't be human... or at least we wouldn't be "sane".

I think it's a work of the unexplained how you could have posted 666 times in a little over a month! Mr. Kras is, of course, rapidly approaching in just under two weeks. Well done! It may be a new record

Personally, I don't go through any superstitious rituals or anything, nor do I believe in numerology. I do, however, recognize and respect people's beliefs on the subject matter, and I've even taken the time to visit psychic and spiritualist communities such as Lily Dale, NY to appreciate their views and learn a thing or two in the process. I used to think that blind faith was a by product of a simple mind, but I've since realized that it's not a matter of intelligence or socioeconomic status or age or any of that, as I'm sure Craig can attest to. As magicians, we play into this willingness--even NECESSITY--to believe in something by creating a magical moment...

...unless, of course, you're Criss Angel, but that's the subject of a different rant.

Ciao,
Rob

it's actually 616..not 666...cant remember where i read that useless nugget, but yeah...its 616...so no harm done...

I thought it was 661. Oh well, just goes to show, I s'pose. Freud was terrified of 61, you know, but then again snorting coca cola will do that to a man. Some people, eh?

Anyway, I used to believe in superstitions, but gradually I learned to grow up.

Tomo wrote:I thought it was 661. Oh well, just goes to show, I s'pose. Freud was terrified of 61, you know, but then again snorting coca cola will do that to a man. Some people, eh?

Anyway, I used to believe in superstitions, but gradually I learned to grow up.

fingers crossed!

I can't recall nor have I ever checked it out, but there is a phone prefix associated with the U.S. that actually is 666... given our present administration I'm seeing this as a prophetic thing...

Nope, I'm not superstitious at all. One shouldn't ever be superstitious, it's bad luck.

As for 666, however, my understanding is that it is 666, and that this - via Hebrew numerology - refers to 'Emperor Nero': the man who, at the time Revelations was being written by an exile probably somewhere around the Greece area, had his head (his mark, if you will) on the empire's coins. Hence, "No man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark." I mention this because I often use it - and other stuff, like the 'promise to pay' not the intrinsic value being the key point - when I'm doing some variety of bill/coin thing. The general patter is about what a powerful and extraordinary concept the idea of 'money' is, thereby lending an air of epic mystery to whatever standard torn-and-restored/change/etc. effect I'm going to trot out.

If it's 666, then is 25.807 the root of all evil?

Tomo wrote:If it's 666, then is 25.807 the root of all evil? :mrgreen:

Brrr-tsh!

Obviously, I can perfectly see myself using that, and denying that I've ever heard of you.

Sexton Blake wrote:Brrr-tsh!

Obviously, I can perfectly see myself using that, and denying that I've ever heard of you.

That's very kind of you...

Tomo wrote:If it's 666, then is 25.807 the root of all evil?

ROTFLMAO :lol:

abraxus wrote:it's actually 616..not 666...cant remember where i read that useless nugget, but yeah...its 616...so no harm done...

Yeah, um, I think you may have read that nugget from my first post on this thread. Oh well. Anyways, I heard that 616 is actually the number of "The Beast", whatever that means.