Hey guys. For my Exodus/Deuteronomy class, I will be presenting some magic that somewhat relates to what the ancient egyptians did way back when next Thursday. What are some good effects that I can use that relate to ancient egyptian tricks? Cups and Balls is one trick. I just need some input on tricks that I can either easily obtain, make, or today's modern common tricks that I can relate to ancient times. Any input is greatly appreciated.

- Tommy Magic

Besides what I've read in the bible, when Moses' miracles were duplicated, I can only guess.

Cut and restored mummy bandages or twine perhaps.
Maybe "Gadabout Coins" type effects.
Possibly predictions and geek magic.

Related?
"Lota Bowls"
Henning's "Desert Sands"
"Mummy Mystery" a cheapy.
Salt pours like "Insta-Salt".

Best,

There once was a version of multiplying rabbits where the characters were Mummies and the finish was a bunch of little Mummies. It's probably not sold any longer so you would be justified in cutting-out your own...great patter possibilities!

They would copy spells onto paper, and dip the paper in water to bring the magic into something ingestible.

Their society held many magical beliefs. Just a little research might bring you many ideas.

Work that into Snowstorm in China!

Interesting, we got from medicine/magic into a trite display of snow, which rarely fell in Egypt. Or are you suggesting they use black paper and demonstrate how a curse can be fed to someone and cause them to cough up flies and gnats?

Sticks rarely turn into snakes in Egypt, either. With magic, anything is possible.

But it doesn't need to be a "snowstorm". You can identify it as whatever you want. Rain. A sandstorm. A cloud. Even locusts. There are numerous possibilites.

I have the effect "Magic Milk Pitcher." I am going to do the water to blood (well, milk to blood for visual reasons). I am just going to use water and red dye for the blood. What kind of container can I easily obtain (that's cheap and common) that will look good and that won't raise suspicion. I can't think of a way to show an "empty" container before I pour the milk in.

For milk and blood... that would be the sort of thing the Massia of the Kalahari dessert in Africa are into. A plain plastic pail would do nicely.

I've experimented with milk and red food coloring and it turns pink (like pepto-bismol). So I might wind up using sierra mist as the liquid. Does anyone have suggestions on how I can load the red dye into the liquid without a close-up audience catching it?

Down one thread is a classic reference on this theme, "Think a Drink"

;)

What about using real blood? Your local butcher shop may be able to help.

Turn your Fantasio cane...errrr....staff into a rubber snake. After a second or two of wrestling with it, toss it right at the audience. That'll wake them up good especially if they've had several boring presentations prior to yours. I mean who else in the class would be making such a creative presentation?

Sands of Egypt (The only salvaged sand from the very sandals of those that followed Moses through the desert)

With that milk pitcher, why not start off with a pitcher full of "blood" and the story line, pour blood into a paper cone containing some of the sand to use in the Sands of Egypt effect, as you pour sand from cone talk about the water, having been turned to blood, as good to them as the sand that surrounded them. Or something equally corney.

Finally, produce a big ole' loaf of French bread I mean a big ole' sucker (the biggest you can find at the bakery) from three or four "Egyptian cotton" scarves. You can later slice it up and put it out with finger food (cheese, olives, carrot sticks) and really be popular with the crowd. I don't know if they had olives then but they'll surely be too far besides themselves to stop and question it.

I'm not so sure the cups and balls were ever performed in ancient Egypt.

I'm not sure this guy can is a good magician.

Yes, the cups and balls were performed in ancient Egypt. There are several ancient paintings in various tombs throughout Egypt with the cups and balls. Rope tricks, mummy tricks, liquid tricks, stick tricks, scarab tricks, statue tricks, animal tricks and tricks using sand were also popular in ancient Egypt.

That's interesting. Where did you find this information?

The "so called" cups and balls images in an Egyptian tomb are NOT cups and balls. Do you see any balls? No.

Read the whole paragaraph and you will see they are probably molding bread as all the other statements are food related on that wall section.

In ancient times, Egypt was known as the magic capital of the world and its magical powers were recorded in the Jewish Torah. Nearly 5000 years ago, in 2700 BC., a magician named Dedi of Dedsnefu entertained the court of the Egyptian king Cheops by performing many conjuring effects such as the cups and balls other magicial effects such as decaptitating and restoring the heads of a goose, a pelican and an ox.

There are many other sources that give many more details but I didn't save the sources. Here are a couple of sources:

Timeline of magic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_magic

Egypt, The Magical Capital of the Ancient World
By Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum
http://www.campsci.com/hagadah/egypt,%20......orld.htm

Gerard:

I think what Pete and Jonathan are getting at by pressing the issue of proof vis-à-vis the performance of the cups and balls trick in old Egypt is that the claims they’re aware of are simply not supported by any credible research or scholarly citations, and have been discredited by subsequent, reputable students of magic history.

Both Christopher (in his Illustrated History of Magic) and Clarke (in his The Annals of Conjuring) do indeed claim that an illustration from the Beni Hasan tomb depicts the performance of the cups and balls trick, but few (I don’t know of any) knowledgeable and respected magic historians still subscribe to this claim. See FN 19 (pp. 411) of the Miracle Factory edition of Clarke’s work, which also cites the opinion of a respected Egyptologist in support of such refutation. See also James Randi’s Conjuring, pp, 5-6.

When it’s all boiled down, somebody named “MagicValentina” makes the Egpyt & cups and balls claim on Wikipedia (anyone can contribute to that), but offers no support for his/her claim. And Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum doesn’t even mention cups and balls on the web page you cite so far as I can see.

We should all have an open mind and be ready to consider new evidence, or old evidence buttressed by fresh analysis. That’s why I didn’t say “the cups and balls were not performed in Egypt,” but instead said that I didn’t know (“wasn’t sure”). Same goes for Jonathan – he’s open minded and wanted some good references to consider. That said, the internet is (as we all know) full of accurate and inaccurate information, and I’d be very wary of citing Wikipedia or the good Rabbi as sources, because they offer nothing in support of their claims (of course, as indicated before, I can’t find where the Rabbi even makes the claim that you imply he does).

If anybody can cite credible sources, such as respected magic or Egyptology historians, we should listen to the claims and study the support for them. But so far, I’ve never come across a credible claim that the cups and balls were ever performed in Egypt. And that’s why, my friend, “I’m not so sure the cups and balls were ever performed in ancient Egypt.”

At this point in time, it looks much more like the performance of the cups and balls trick in old Egypt is a myth a la The Indian Rope Trick. But who knows what future genuine scholars will dig up. Someone at some time had to “invent” this trick, and there’s no reason I know of to eliminate the ancient Egyptians as the inventors. On the other hand, there’s no proof that they invented this trick either.

Clay
Meminisse Magicam

Posted: Jan 31, 2006 9:58pm
P.S. The Westcar Papyrus is the source of the Dedi story, and I've never seen a magic-related discussion of that document which says that the Westcar Papyrus describes the cups and balls being performed by Dedi. Have you?