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What is your opinion on magicians releasing books, DVD's, effects for learning purposes? I know they say a good magician never reveals his secrets but if this was the case then nobody would ever learn anything.

Another thing - Is it okay to let your girlfriends/wives or a friend in on the secret if you need someone to practise in front of. I don't need to because I practise in front of the mirror but just wondered.

I think what is meant is that magician's shouldn't reveal secrets to *laypeople*.

Or more importantly, shouldn't be expected to either!

As you might expect, this topic has been aired plenty of times before - the general consensus was that it's OK to sell magic and secrets as that tends to limit things to those who really want to know and are prepared to pay for such knowledge. Giving secrets away does nobody any good and tends to devalue Magic - if you don’t have a value on something, it very often isn’t appreciated.

As for Wives and Girlfriends - there's probably a strong chance of divorce or physical injury if you don’t give in to them occasionally but that's another story! Only let them know what they need to know but be careful how you phrase these limitations!

You have to remember that if it is in a book or DVD the person has to want the knowledge enough to pay for it. People, in general, don't like to pay for knowledge especially if it is mere curiosity which it often is where magic is concerned.

So, exposur tells the mechanics of trick for free and not how to perform it which is annoying but a book is OK. I think someone once said "if you want something to remain a secret put it in a book"

Misanthropy wrote:Another thing - Is it okay to let your girlfriends/wives or a friend in on the secret if you need someone to practise in front of. I don't need to because I practise in front of the mirror but just wondered.

i think if u need someone to practice in front of, thats all the more reason not to let them in on the method. If you tell them how its done, theyll scrutinise your hands/pockets/moves etc whereas if they had no clue, your misdirection is more likely to be effective.

Also , laypeople obviously dont have the same attitude to magic that magicians do, and dont see what the whole deal is about secrecy. They dont understand that boasting to their friends ruins the effects that magicians have spent years or decades perfecting. My brother is in this catagory of laypeople and he infuriates me asking me how 'so and so' trick is done! Thats another good reason not to reveal anything

Ok, exposing magic to ordinary people is (undebatable) bad for the magicians.
1. They will never believe you have powers and such, they will always be looking for the logical explanation (which means they will often find it).
2. As stated before, they will look careful at your movements, and your misdirection will not be effective at all.
3. They will become less and less impressed.
4. They will recognize your moves and often speak it out loud, not even letting you finish the trick (it happened with two of my friends, and it is teh sux).

Ok, here's a question: is it offensive or demeaning to call non-magicians "muggles"? It is a constant temptation of mine... not in a nasty way - I think it's kind of endearing - but I suppose it would imply that we're part of some secretive magically-enabled elite... which of course, we're not...

Muggles has been used quite a bit here and as long as it's within the magic community it ought to be OK if said in a friendly way. I suppose use of the word implies that we are Potteresque type magi which isn't quite correct as I keep falling off my second hand, one old lady owner only honest guv Nimbus 2000 !

I don't reveal secrets to muggles for their own good! If you do show someone how a particular effect is achieved, you take away the magic from them. Instead of thinking they've just seen a really nice piece of magic, they going away thinking it was all just a silly trick.

Remember that ordinary joes often have difficulty differenciating between magicians, psychics, and wizards! For every hard-nosed sceptic who would love to trip you up while you're performing a trick, there are 10 wide-eyed individuals who really, really want to believe you have super powers. Don't spoil it for them.

Misanthropy wrote:Another thing - Is it okay to let your girlfriends/wives or a friend in on the secret if you need someone to practise in front of. I don't need to because I practise in front of the mirror but just wondered.

I tend to practice and smooth off the rough edges then performa trick for friends. They know it's just me, but if they can't get how the trick actually works then I know it's ready for strangers. They're also very good at innocently finding the things you hadn't thought of. For instance, I've been mucking about with Heath's Bill Trick from Gardner's "Mathematics, Magic and Mystery" but I completely forgot there can be zeros in a bank note serial number! The first time I tried it out for a friend I was stumped!