I know it seems a bit of a strange question, but I have always been interested in why magicians become interested in this art and pursue it. Do we do it to satisfy ourselves? Is it more of a desire to create this beautiful world of wonder for others to behold? Do we do it for the attention of others, perceiving us as “holding some mystical powers” that laypeople find amazing and think of us as supernatural? Do some of us do it just to get the attention of the masses or to get a date!

I mean, some people love sports because of its inherent competitive nature and thrive on the adrenaline rush so they pursue it as there career path. Others learn to play a musical instrument and become musicians because they wish to create beautiful melodic sounds. Some people become actors because they want to either become a star or genuinely love acting and being a different character. The list goes on.

But what makes you want to do magic. I have always been fascinated in other magician’s views on this and ask it of many magicians, and to this day, I am not sure why I myself have chosen this field even after 16 years of doing it as a full time professional. I still struggle daily to figure out what made me travel down this path. I may never truly know for myself but would love to hear what makes you endeavour into this wonderful art form.

I invite all to post their thoughts on this. After all, every answer is correct and important!

I have spent some thought on this also. I think there are 2 extreme types of magicians. One is based on hermes the trickster god, only wanting to play tricks on others to amuse only themselves, and one based on Dionysos, the theater god, wanting to amuse others with their magical theater. A lot float in between. Bizarrist off course are more towards the Dionysos, part of our line.

I first became interested in magic as a child. I loved the feeling of being fooled and seeing something impossible happen. As I grew up my love for magic shifted to how it worked. It was very linear and fit well with my increasing love of math and science. As an adult, it shifted again...I now love to share my magic so my audience can feel that same sense I did as a child. Over the years, it's always interested me in various ways.

Steven and Cirrus,

Those are wonderful reasons! I appreciate you sharing that with us.

I was interested in magic as a kid, but never did anything real serious with it. Over the last 10 years, it's been an occasional occupation, but life generally got in the way of pushing forward. As I approached middle age, though, it became obvious that my "retirement" was vanishing before my eyes and I would likely have to continue working. Well, I'd rather be a magician than a store greeter! And now here I am, and I won't go back.

Ed

Good story Ed.

Thanks for sharing,

I saw Siegfried and Roy in 1982 and to be honest I don't think I had much of a choice---I've been hooked ever since on magic and mentalism. And as they say "The rest is history". As to why I do it? That's easy for me to answer---I love it. People who know me know I have 3 TRUE LOVES in this world. God, my wife Amy and finally magic/mentalism and those who perform it. This is just plain fun. The wanting to know "How something is done" and then practice, practice, practice. And then off to our first audience (family and trusted friends) and finally on to The Tonight Show! Or a birthday party whichever comes first! But I think what I love about performing is I get to see that look again. You know the one we all get when we see something that baffles us at first and we just HAVE to know. I've often said our real "trade off" as magicians/mentalists is we start to see fewer and fewer effects that baffle us. This happens more and more as we learn more and more of our trade. We gain wisdom and we lose wonderment. But when we perform we get to see, if only for a moment, that wonderment that we felt once again. that's why we smile when we perform an effect. We know what just happened between their ears!


Good magic to all,


Eric

Great story Eric! Thanks for sharing that one.

I got into magic in a really round-about way. I was absolutely infatuated with the idea as a kid, but my father was less than enthusiastic about it. He was in the Navy, and seeing all his compatriots fleeced by shell game operators at every harbor left a bad taste in his mouth.

I got into fencing as a teenager and my maestro had a habit of showing up to practice with weird wounds, from time to time. One of those times, it was a facial burn all up and down the left side of his face. When we pressed him for information, he told us "fire eating", which, of course, none of us believed.

A few months after that, he and I were talking about it, and I was beginning to realize that he had been truthful. He jokingly offered to teach me, no doubt thinking the memory of his burn would keep me from taking the offer seriously. It didn't. After that I went to blockheading and then, at my maestro's encouragement, I branched out into actual and proper stage magic.

By the way, Ed, I love your story. Sounds like it was a pretty easy choice to make, when it came time.

Good response Eric. Very interesting indeed!

I went into magic when I was 18. I started with cards, but never really performed tricks. I didn't find a way to present them that they weren't merely puzzles for the spectators to solve, so I practically quit magic for a while (about a year) and went into wicca where I learned real magic and did rituals and it had a great psychological effect on me. I loved it actually. Then I picked up magic again and I knew how I could entertain kids, with a great story the magic would be easy to, and then I discovered bizarre magic. First as a book by Tim converse (scrolls) and then Karnival of Magick by a certain guy called Tony Chris. With my background in Wicca and the synchronicity of learning about bizarre magic I found my true calling in magic, bizarre and story-telling magic, and now I'm more passionate about magic then I ever was before.

Thank you Cirrus. I am flattered and appreciate that very much.

What a nice story that is.