talkmagic.co.uk

Partly from misinterpreting another thread title, I thought it might be fun for us to talk about the first moment we properly, unambiguously wowed someone with our magic.

If memory serves mine came from a fairly simple one-card divination on a colleague. She was holding her selection against her chest. I stared deep into her eyes, psychic frown on the go.

I named her card.

She told me to f___ off.

I think the lesson learnt, if lesson there was, was that the expletive came from the presentation as much as anything. It was more about the sizzle than the steak - that and the weirdly incomplete structure to the one-card divination, which I believe has a a real power to it.

How dreadfully unladylike. Still, I suppose that is what happens when one is working to the lower classes.

You've changed.

Not exactly the first time I got a good reaction but a couple of years ago I was doing a self-worker based on one of Max Maven's routines where the spec selects symbols of weapons on a board and my pre-recorded voice tells them how many moves to make each time as they move around the various weapons, one choice, being removed before each move. Towards the end, the voice says it knows the spec isn't pointing to either of two choices and at that point, the folks in the audience gave out a loud 'Woah!' which surprised the hell out of me. There was yet another ‘Woah!’ when the voice correctly stated which choice the spec was left with. Up until then it had usually been ‘Oooh that’s good, how did you know, how’s it done’ etc but to actually get the loud verbal expressions of sudden surprise was very rewarding!

Mine was probably when I did an ACR ending with an omnideck in their hands and the person said "I felt the energy in my hands when it changed" completely seriously.
That's also when I realised how much suggestion and allowing people to make their own conclusions can help your magic. I then started branching out into bizarre/storytelling mental magic.

My first time will have been when I was eight, and I showed a friend a dice-tunnel trick that had come with a Paul Daniel's branded magic set (gimmicked square plastic tube, die goes in - pushed using a wand - and comes out facing a different way... you know the kind of thing). I'd selected the trick because it seemed to be what I now know is called "self-working", and I'd only gotten the set on my birthday the previous day and hadn't yet had a chance to become confident at many of the other tricks.

He spent a ludicrous amount of time examining the die (the one part of the whole set-up that was completely examinable!) and getting more and more frustrated that he couldn't work it out. It was a wonderful time for a young magician.

Wow, memories! I think I still have a PD Dice tunnel somewhere up in the attic.... must go and look!