"It's no coincidence that so many of us feel an intuitive connection between our life and a burning flame. From the time of its birth in a spark of chaos (a long match is lit), to the gentle flickering of souls - in the silent knowledge that our time is limited - the parallels between the life cycle of a flame and our own lives are far too strong to be simply ironic.

Like us, it too wants to live on (the match is used to light a candle in a narrow glass), to contine past...(the match is extuingished)...our inevitable death. Yet every story in history, every incident, every encounter, every coincidence reminds us again and again, that ultimately the laws of death catch up with us. Ultimately, the laws of nature drown our flame. (As this is being said, a small pewter flask - http://www.blackhart.co.uk/page37.html has an excellent one - is bought out. It is unscrewed, and a half of its contents - a blood like liquid - is poured on the candle flame to drown it).

In reality however, the flame itself is unquenchable. What we interpret as death, is a characteristic of the medium the flame is embodied in - not of the flame itself. It is a characteristic of the body, not the spirit. Every mythology that has ever explored the struggle between the spirit and the body, predicts the eventual triumph of the spirit. The laws of nature (the "previously lit" match is picked up), must always succumb to the will of the spirit (the match is lit and comes to life - again. The match is used to relight the candle, and is then put out). And when the spirit decides to live on, no law of nature - no matter how integral to the fabric of the material plane - can ever hope to make a mark. The flask is picked up again, and poured on the flame - the quick of eye see that what pours out is no longer a bloody liquid, but a dry ash (Fl*** P****r). As the ash comes in contact with the flame, rather than put the flame out, there is a puff of smoke, as the ash vanishes, and the flame lives on...

Ok, this is just in its conceptual stages right now. I normally just do mentalism, and I'm in the process of building my first "bizzare" act. I had the idea of the presentation above (I'm not well read in this particular field, but I'm sure this presentation for the match effect is not dramatically new), but can see two potential issues I was hoping to get some help on. First, after the blood is poured on the candle the first time, the candle may not light so easily the second time.

The second one is more important I think. I don't want the effect at the end to be of the blood turning to ashes. The star of the piece is the flame. I want it to be a magical property of the flame that it can now withstand nature - not that nature distorts to accomadate the flame. Is there some chemical anyone knows of that can be disguised as blood so it isn't "obvious" that there has been a switch? Or maybe some other approach to get the same effect?

I don't have enough posts to be in the "secret" area, so if you have an idea that can't be posted, please PM me.

Any ideas on the presentation are also very welcome. As I said, I'm very new to this field... Thanks in advance.

Argh.. I typed a big long post here and the Café page crashed on me.
It's been running like crap all weekend.
I'm backing off from any detailed posts until it gets ironed out.

I feel your pain Mystician.

Regan

Let's see, my prior points, as best as I can remember:

I know of no liquid offhand, that can be poured on a flame to douse it while leaving the wick in such a condition as to be immediately reflammable. if you pour a petroleum type liquid on it, it won't douse the flame, it'll flare up. If you pour a water-based solution, the wick will be wet and will not relight.
So there's a bit of a problem there, unless a chemical expert here knows otherwise ? or maybe used some kind of gimmicked candle with dual wicks ?

Also, Rajat, what exactly did you mean by this part:
"(the "previously lit" match is picked up)" and "(the match is lit and comes to life - again.)"
How is the match "relit" ? Re-struck on the side of the box ? Lit by another match ? (that wouldn't make sense). How are you relighting the match ?

Understand that I'm not trying to pick apart your routine for criticism's sake, I'm only trying to help you see the obstacles you'll encounter so you can find a way around them.. or then again, maybe I just didn't understand everything clearly.

Oh, and Regan.. people tell me that my avatar is scary, but yours ..

Yow !

I meant that the match is re-struck on the side of the match box. Don't remember where I learned the effect now (it must be very old), but three sources that come to mind are Tarbell(don't remember which one), Martin Gardner's Encyclopedia of impromptu magic, and more recently, I'm told "Shivers" has this. You could always PM me if you want to know my take on it...

I've had a few PMs about this, and I'm beginning to think it might be better to skip the candle part - or atleast do it differently. I think the part about "longing to live on after death," which the candle flame represents, is a good hook - but maybe do something else with the candles. Any ideas?

No ideas at the moment, but I just remembered the other thing I had written before:
I think this is a really good presentation. I love the analogy, and if this is your first foray into bizarre as you say, I'm really looking forward to see more from you !
I have some of the sources you mention, I'll check into them.

Thanks Mystician.