As there are so few women in magic, I am often asked why I as a woman decided to try my hand at magic. Well, for me that's easy, my Dad is a magician so it was pretty much around me all the time. But I am curious as to what drew all the other ladies here at the Café to magic?
Peace Beth

A magician pulled a quarter out of my brother's ear. I was 5 and he was three. I took my brother to the side of the house, muffled his cries and dug in his ear for more quarters. My mother caught me and told me to go ask that magician how it is done. I worried the poor man until he told me. Then I got a magic set for my birthday.

I did magic as a hobby until I got a job in a magic shop when I was grown. They almost did not hire me because I was female. I told them if I did not outsell the guys within two weeks they could fire me and not pay me. I outsold the guys starting day one.

I started doing kid's shows and close-up table magic as a sideline. When the magic shop changed owners, I lost my day job. I started doing magic full-time and have done magic ever since.

Well, I am strictly a beginner. As a kid, I loved magic and would go down to our local shop. However, it soon folded, and there went my only source. Little did I know, my hubby frequented the same place as a kid.

A few years ago we were at Disneyland as a family. Our daughter wanted to go into the magic shop. That was all it took for my hubby and I to get "hooked", and for our daughter to fall in love with magic. Now, it is pretty much a daily family thing, and has also taken over every corner of our house. But, what a great way to bond!

We both belong to our local S.A.M. ring and our daughter belongs to the SYM. She really shines and has a natural talent on stage. Both my hubby and I can tend to be shy, but interestingly enough, we tend to come out of our normal "shells" a bit while attending meetings, etc. We are pretty involved with our daughter's SYM group. She has done quite well these past two years. She was asked to perform with the SAM for their annual show, will be doing another show with the SAM in October, was hired by the City of Pleasant Hill at the recommendation of our local SAM President for their 4th of July event in the park, and she has given several shows for our local recreation district (where she volunteers as a junior leader) for their summer camp programs (and now their after school program) for the kids. LOL..she is very popular with the kids...after all...who doesn't love a magician?

For myself, I haven't really had a chance to do too much with my own magic. Keeping up with my daughter and her practices takes away a lot from my own. The routine she is currently using is one that I created for myself for an amateur competition held within our club, but handed over to her when she got her first paying job.

I do like "tinkering" with making magic props too! I recently made a custom bag to "flag". Right now I am looking into having some custom artwork done to make another new one. I also make, what I think, is a very nice Square/Circle. When I look at everyday items, they now take on a whole new meaning. I now think, "hmm, what could I do with THAT?"

Wishing you all a *magical* day,

Kristen

Beth I'm actually just like you My dad is an magician as well and I got hooked at a young age. Many people I find are a little more interested in women performers because there are so few of them. Lucky for us right.
Ashley

I really love hearing how all the girls got into magic. I do think in some ways Ashley, that being female in magic can be a plus. Like you said, I have also found that people are a little more interested in women performers. In some ways we are a novelty. I also think having a parent in magic is a great way to start in magic. It's like having a built in mentor lol. Like you, Magic4ewe, for my family it's a joint family thing, although it's not as much my brother's thing lol.

Autumn Morning Star, I was curious. From your pic I assume you do a Native American act. Although you know what they say about assuming haha.

Anyway, I have always thought that would be just an awesome way to do a dove act as my mom is part Cherokee. However, the only time I ever played around with trying it, I totally insulted some family member, who thought doing the feather dance in a magic act was insulting. Although a touchy subject, I wondered if when you do a Native American act if you ever get that reaction from people in your tribe? Just curious.
Peace Beth

I remember buying a magic set when I was 10 or 11 and I've been supporting the magic industry ever since... I held my first show in my parents garage when I was about 12 and charged a whopping 10 cents admission fee. I made 85 cents because one of my friends was so impressed he paid an extra nickel.

I did birthday party, library, and daycare shows when I lived in Texas.

After a few major life changes I relocated to north Florida a few years ago.

Can't wait to chat with other lady magicians.

rose
amelia island, FL

My first encounter with magic was when I was about nine years old. A magician was performing on our ship, and I was amazed when he made the little boy (a volunteer) pee non stop. I was amazed.

Later on, I met my current fiance, a magician, who introduced me to the beauty of cards. I was, at first, interested in card manipulations (XB was my first DVD), but then, after several weeks, I became more amazed in doing magic than just doing exhibitions with cards. So... there.

My interest grew when I incidentally discovered how GREAT the effect of performing is. I made my mournful classmate happy with my first (and still sloppy) ACR. I decided to become serious. Eventually, my fiance and I earned our seats at the 'Tavern'. We're currently one of sir Rannie's (The Boss/ Manila Enforcer) students. (My parents still can't get over the fact that their daughter likes cards.)

Right now, I do cards. Mostly, self-working routines. I'm glad to meet other female magicians! In our place, I only know of one who focuses on close-up. The others are either dealers only and not serious to the craft, and the others are stage magicians/ assistants.

Hope we all help each other to raise girl power! lol

-- Cyssa
-- Mla, Philippines

My first post, and I'm happy to have found the ladies forum to post in first

Although I cannot do any magic (I've had interest in cards for quite sometime, but can't seem to grasp it!), my boyfriend is a magician, so I am a very big supporter of him and the magic community. I have recently taken up juggling and hope to get out there some day and perform with him in public. I think with cards I get too nervous...people watch your every move. I've learned a few things in cards, but I can't seem to relax and end up messing it up.

So, if it weren't for my boyfriend, I'd still be just a regular spectator. I enjoy watching videos with him, being his "mirror" to practice in front of, giving him tips...just overall being supportive of something he's passionate about. Being by his side during all this has helped me learn some things too!!

Hi Lauren,
Welcome to The Café! You'll find a ton of info here. Is it Close-up magic that you want to do? If your boyfriend has it, a great book to start with is The Royal Road To Card Magic. My Dad does close-up so if you have any questions, let me know. I'll help as much as I can

You know I think it would be awesome for a girl to do a street magic kind of persona. I really do stage, so it's not for me, but I have heard a lot of talk with magician friends that it's just a matter of time before they think the right girl goes over really big with a street magic act. It's a very masculine area of magic, so it would be really unique for a girl to do it. Just a thought
Peace Beth

I'd like to do close-up magic, mainly cards. I've learned some coin magic from watching my boyfriend. Thanks for the info on that book, I'll look into it. I really like the idea of street magic, either walking up to random people, or just drawing a big crowd. I've gone out with my boyfriend and videotaped him while he walked the streets, so I can get a feel for it. I'd still be too nervous to perform close-up magic though! I think for now I'll stick with juggling I'm hoping to have an act together by next summer! It's a lot of work though....

Thank you Beth for the welcome, and offering your help. That's very cool your dad is a magician! So, what kind of things do you do on stage?

Belinda Sinclair is doing some pretty wild street magic stuff in NYC!

http://www.belindasinclair.com

Hey Lauren! I see a lot of similarities between us. My boyfriend is responsible for the 'crime' too. lol Performing closeup magic is a tough job for us girls, but nevertheless, closeup magic would be a lot better if we put our foot into it. Aside from being rare, female magicians who do close up magic attract greater audiences and get more compliments. (They also have a greater possibility to gain more money in paid presentations.)

I do a silent ring act set to music, a dove act and I do a zombie act. My favorite levitation is Okito's floating ball using the ear loop method. I do a little close-up but my heart belongs to stage magic to my Dad's great dismay ha ha .



The best advice I ever received for performing was to learn just 3 or 4 effects really well and then start performing. Instead of trying to learn a huge repertoire, which I was trying to do because I thought the next effect was just going to be the coolest, I was advised to learn just a few effects really well and jump in. It's scary but to me the best way to be good at magic is to perform Any mistakes you make will just make you better the next time you perform.

How long have you been juggling? I really want to put together a manipulation act... but haven't really decided on what to do yet. Plus I am trying to focus on just a few areas for magic so that I can really be good at those.... still I LOVE a good manipulation act. Have you ever seen Shimada's parasol act?... freaking amazing.
Peace Beth

I got started in magic because my grandfather taught my 2 sisters and I when we were 3. I liked doing magic so much that I do it full time (well as much as I can because I am still in high school). I do a lot of different kinds of magic. I do a dove routine, a little bit of close up, but I don't like talking; so I don't do very much. My sisters and I do illusions. I recently put together a manipulation act. Since then I have more respect for anybody doing manipulation of any kind because it takes a lot of time and hard work.
Magically,
smagic

Hey, magic newbie here. My tale is short but has taken the course of many years. When I was five, I was interested in magic but there really wasn't much a five year old kid could do on their own. I did see some magician perform the floating rose and the bowling ball from a sketch pad and I was amazed. I asked him how he made the rose float and he told me he rubbed his feet on the ground for 30 minutes before the show. I believed him and went around the house rubbing my feet on the ground. Suffice to say, I probably was rubbing my feet wrong because it never worked. Years later, just last week in fact, I was walking around town and I ran into a magic shop that was opened. Intrigue by this new discovery, I went in. I bought myself some sponge balls and I am pretty hooked. *g*

My story is perhaps a bit disapointing :
A boyfriend (or actually a wannabe)wanted to impress me and read my mind... I didn't think he was special enough to do ANYTHING like that for real, so I did a google and found out more about mentalism. I got hooked...
and now I read minds myself, coupled with "female intuition", of course.
And yes, the guy still talks to me, but he has given up magic completely

Hi,

I got started in magic because of Eric Grossman, a talented musician who is also a great magician, talked so well of his "Magic" activity; I just wanted to practice what he promoted, he was so serious that I thought it could be interesting to begin the Magic tricks. And now, I am quite proud to be a magician!

Emeline

I was born into it.
Literally speaking...
Except I decided not to follow the genetics
nor the family curse.

Yet, I'm still imulsified in it.
Although I do not perform "magic", I do
perform the "magic" of music.

And 90% of the time, my dad is OK with that.

This thread partly answers the question "why aren't there more women in magic?"

It seems (that with one or two exceptions) the women here have only got into magic because their father/family/boyfriend was involved. Whereas I think many guys get into magic because they saw a show and independantly started to read and study magic books without any mentor in the background.

That's only meant as an observation which might be useful when considering how to get more women interested in magic which I think would be a good thing. More entry level magic books which appeal to girls would be a good start.

I actually got into magic after my son who had an interest from a toddler forward. As I began purchasing the props and attending various magic functions with him, I got bit by the magic bug and have not looked back! I had always loved the theatre and performance arts, and this was the icing on the cake! I love to read about magic, watch it, and most of all perform it!