Harris wrote:

"Ring 129 has a very active healing of magic group.

Please go to our website at

http://www.ring129.com ..."
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Dear Harris,

Thanks for the link to Ring 129's Healing Magic page.

Very impressed.

Congratulations for running such a successful program.

Did you use Copperfield's Project Magic as a framework/reference or other (addiitonal) doucmentation?

Perhaps I missed the link to documentation on the Healing of Magic Program. If so, could you kindly priovide it?

Many thanks.

Jonathan

Well said! Thanks for taking the time to give input into this thread at the Café.

Jonathan I see a link to Healing of Magic at the left menu of the IBM ring 129 site.

Perfect. I will check this link out.

Many thanks.

I think MagicGuy72's views on magic therapy mirror my own pretty well. I also used to be a volunteer EMT-B (actually part of what got me interested in magic therapy, but that's another story), and there are significant differences between being a member of a volunteer squad and a paid paramedic/firefighter. Better to keep this as a volunteer opportunity.

That said, there's an angle here which hasn't been raised yet, which is that performing at hospitals can help improve your performance for paid gigs. I get "flight time" each time I perform at the hospital which has been invaluable training and experience. It gave me the confidence to start pursuing paid gigs, and I have the opportunity to try out new routines and see what works and what doesn't. Definitely beats asking my friends if I can show them my latest routine, and I have the added advantage of a guaranteed friendly audience to practice in front of and really refine my performance. I know, I know, you're supposed to practice in front of a mirror before going to the audience stage, and I do, but I just find that I perform differently the first few times I work with an audience regardless. Many of the pieces in the Spencers' and Copperfield's books are also commercial-quality with the right development (okay, not all, I admit I like the wand stuck to the hand piece, but it just doesn't work enough for me to use in public too often, though I have some great stories about it - works well enough for hospital use, though). In particular, Copperfield does teach Professor's Nightmare, one of my favorites, and I have developed a great routine on the Spencers' Coin-through-Silk and vanishing knot. There are some limitation on practicing, however - I never use a mouth coil in the hospital, for example.

Since I work with patients of all ages, I've also had the chance to really study and learn what works for different audiences. Reading or talking about it with other magicians just does not equal the opportunity of solid practice practice practice! I have also incorporated ideas from the patients into my own routines. Sometimes, discussing story ideas and a trick with a patient also seems to have therapeutic benefit, since they're brought into that "inner circle" of magicians which is perceived as a place that's hard to get into.

Of course, once you get to know the hospital staff, there's also the likelihood that you can get great testimonials!

I still hold the view that performing in hospitals needs to be based on the foundation that you want to help others, but hey, side benefits are always a nice perk!

Pretty old thread. I am thinking about doing this at my local hospital. Is there much of a group still doing it to bounce ideas off, any listserves?