Okay. Here's a proposal:

1) We choose a classic of magical literature on which we can all focus (or refocus, as the case may be).

2) Each month, we nominate a routine from that book.

3) We each (re)explore that routine from our various bizarrist perspectives.

4) We then share/discuss/inspire/inform each other as we report our experiences/ideas and so on, back here at the Café.

What are your thoughts? Anyone up for this? I know Kay suggested something very similar in another thread (though her idea was to use common pieces of apparatus). Using a book, though, as our starting-point might prove cheaper and more informative, in the long run.

Now, to get the discussion moving, here are two possible books that spring to mind: 'Greater Magic' and 'Stars of Magic'. For this purpose, I'd suggest 'Stars of Magic' as, for those who don't have it, it's cheaper and more readily available.

What book would you suggest?

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

I like the idea, and while I did try to re-focus the thread on the "old dog's" it was not mine to start with!

Stars of magic, I will track it down if it is not already on my shelf!
(age has me buying duplicates of things I already own!) <sigh>
k

Great idea, thanks to both of you. And a great book. I'm off on vacation this week, I'll dig it out when I get home.

Mark

'Stars of Magic' it is, then.

How about we look at Dai Vernon's 'Triumph' for this month, so that everyone can contribute, if they wish? It might encourage one or two more people to join us on this journey .

Warm regards,

Caleb Strange.

One or two 'Triumph' presentation ideas here:

http://themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic......5&16

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

Greetings fellow Starcrafters. Just a reminder that we'll be discussing 'Triumph' soon - shall we say by next weekend? (I hope to have something presentable to share with you in a week's time.)

Hope you're having fun !

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

I don't do bizarre magick but I like the idea Caleb started.
So I'll try. Hopefully without making a mockery of myself.

---Triumph with the 22 Major Arcana cards---

The face down Tarot cards are freely shuffled by either the client or performer.

"These cards represent the past, present and future. When face down, they represent the yet unseen future."
Table spread the cards then square them.
"There are many future possibilities."

"When the cards are face up, they reveal your past experiences. If you will, lift half of the mixed cards and place them here. Which portion should we use?"

Turn the selected portion face up and proceed to give a reading into the client's past using the top, face up card.

"Then there is the present, where past and future briefly meet."
Weave the cards together as in Triumph.
"The present is fleeting and quickly becomes the past."
Show the mixed cards ala Triumph but.. turn the deck face up when finished showing the mixed cards.

"The past has many faces and experiences but the faceless future is not of our choosing but left to fate."
As you say this, table spread the cards face up. One card will be face down.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

If 'yes' have the client remove the face down card and do a reading of the future.
If 'no' then say something like, "I understand. It's sometimes best not to look into the face of the unknown." Finish

Jaz, many thanks for getting us going and for sharing this neat routine. I particularly enjoyed how you decribed the future as unknown and therefore face down, and the past as face up. This conceit has real umph and immediacy when these two 'faces' meet in the present.

My only concern about your routine is exactly the issue I've been trying to resolve myself: how does one combine a Tarot reading with trickery and (evidently) dextrous skill? More importantly, how can the audience member feel ownership and a connection with the single face down card when you've magically controlled the rest of the pack?

Now, I think this raises wider issues about the use of Tarot cards in magic, but in the context of your routine, so long as the reading were downplayed and kept brief, I think the combination is okay.


On reflection, maybe you could dispense with the reading all together, and end the routine somewhat rogueishly. Something like:

Leave the single face down card in the spread for a good while, as you silently let the effect register. Then, as you say 'Your destiny, the glorious unknown,' you lift the corner of that card and take a peek. Then you make as if you're going to show the card to the audience member and her friends, saying, 'I could show you, of course.' But then you mix the card into the rest of the pack, otherwise unseen, and lose it. And you grin mischievously, and ask 'But where would the fun be in that?'

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

I like the idea of past and future.

The past is know (face up)

And the future is unknown (face down)

And you chose your present.

Then the world does what it does, and what happens next has not explanation or model in modern science. Yet ... and somehow the known and the unknown combine in the present to move everything into the future. Which... once again becomes the present and if we wait another moment, it goes by to become the past. Whaterver you do, or have done, you have made your choice, or selection in this case....

As I mentioned, I'm not a storytelling bizarrist but hopefully there's some food for thought.

Here's where the connection to the entire deck can be made.
"The face down Tarot cards are freely shuffled by either the client or performer."

Here's where Fate does the magic work, not the performer controlling.
"The past has many faces and experiences but the faceless future is not of our choosing but left to fate."

I would think that anyone using the Tarot for some time would have dexterity with the cards. No? What trickery?

While a more intricate script could be employed I kept it short. Please, feel free to change whatever you want.

What's next from 'Stars'? heheh

Jaz,

I like your short script - I think it suits the effect well and lets the magic speak for itself. (Vernon's script in S of M is pretty snappy, too.)

I suppose my uncertainty stems not with your routine but partly with my as yet unsatisfactory efforts to develop a presentation for 'Triumph', and partly with the effect itself. It's such a strong effect - one that seems, for me, to indicate great manual skill. I suppose what I'm finding difficult is emphasising the magic over the skill.

It's interesting that Vernon presents the routine (in the book) at one stage removed. He tells, of course, that story about being rudely challenged. Consequently, the smart-alec is the guy who seizes the pack from him in the story, and not Vernon himself. The magician, therefore, becomes the put upon hero, and so the audience want him/her to succeed.

We've all seen 'Triumph' murdered and turned into a spot of unsatisfactory (for the audience) fancy-pants finger flinging. My efforts, unlike yours and Jonathan's, are still falling into that trap.

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

I attempted to keep the Triumph routine basically as is.
To me, Vernon's Triumph is one routine that doesn't 'indicate great manual skill'. Me thinks that that's what makes it so good.

I often use Triumph as an opener, using patter similar to Vernon's. I pick the card myself however. My reasoning is that the story may help me put off some wise guys.

Anyway, if the skill used for Triumph is a concern then I'm a bit concerned about the other routines in Stars.

I just did a search on 'Fate' along with Gods and Godesses and found this info.
Norns: Celtic; the three sisters of the Wyrd. Responsible for weaving fate- past, present and future.
These are several references to dieties of fate, any of which may be incorporated into a script.
Remember Fate turns over the last card.

Yes, exactly Jaz. Much more about them in Sandman too.

Destiny turns the card... I like that.

Jaz and Jonathan:

Life is a series of rooms, each of which has many doors.

And some of these doors are locked and some of these doors are unlocked, and when we leave a room, we step into another one, and, again, this room has many doors.

And some of these doors are locked and some of these doors are unlocked.

Now just occasionally, this plodding cycle is broken and we find ourselves, all at once, in a room that is quite different. And as we explore this room, we begin to realise that ALL of the doors before us are unlocked now... save one.

And THIS is the door that we must walk through.

Thanks Caleb, those mental images invite significant thought, and provide great cover for otherwise risky or diffucult sleights

Jonathan,

Thanks for your kind and gentle words .

Nice Caleb!

Star Craft is a registered trademark of the Blizzard Corporation, I doubt they'll say anything, but I just thought I'd let you know.

The Bizarre Stars of Magic perhaps?

or how about "Presenting the Stars of Magic"

Jaz, thanks for that. I appreciate it .

As for the name I dare not now mention (oops!), then perhaps we should go with Jonathan's suggestion 'Presenting the Stars of Magic'. I'll start another thread with this new name, and perhaps we can discuss what routine to explore next, in there. Here's the new thread:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......14&0

But let's continue our discussions on 'Triumph' in this original thread.