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Alan Wheeler Inner circle Posting since 2002 with 2038 Posts |
A few years ago a fairly long-time acquaintance (at least I recognized him) caught me posting in Penny for Your Thoughts and invited me to join the "dark side" and tried to tempt me with brownies that he said has special ingredients now legal in many places. I am not sure he knew that I had been studying the works of Eugene Burger--including Spirit Theater--and had a secret interest in some of the darker, deeper styles and themes of magic already.
I have also been studying tarot cards and some other esoteric spiritual practices, recently charting my blended path in a new website linked in my signature. I don't know if this expansion and opening up will lead to new ways of performing, but I thought I would wander over to the Cellar here and see if those brownies were really here. Anyway, as I way to introduce myself as an interested newbie to this realm, I am posting a link to a story I wrote about a fictional bizarre magic performance called "The Haunted House." The main character Dr. Uranus is based on my father, and so much of the story is real, probably only I could separate fact from fiction. This is the story about the haunted sorority house from our college newspaper: The Wedding Cake House. The short story is the third one down on this page in my father's Memorial Website: Tales of Dr. Uranus. Enjoy!
The views and comments expressed on this post may be mere speculation and are not necessarily the opinions, values, or beliefs of Alan Wheeler.
A BLENDED PATH Christian Reflections on Tarot Word Crimes Technology and Faith........Bad Religion |
weepinwil Inner circle USA 3828 Posts |
So sad you have wandered unsuspectingly into the dark side. Bizarre magic is as addictive as the five fingered plant you were referring to; maybe more. Like the Hotel California, you can never leave and will spend all of your life savings on bizarre props, trying to satisfy the urge to have it all. Just like all of us here you are doomed to walk this forum forever. Welcome.
"Til Death us do part!" - Weepin Willie
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Alan Wheeler Inner circle Posting since 2002 with 2038 Posts |
Yes, it sounds like the bizarre can get into the blood.
I was recently befriended by a fellow tarot card enthusiast on another forum, where we began a discussion on the Tarot of Vampyres by Ian Daniels. Before I knew it, I had finished Dracula by Bram Stoker, completed 7 seasons of True Blood and one of The Passage as well as starting Buffy, the original Dark Shadows, and the Penny Dreadful Varney the Vampire.
The views and comments expressed on this post may be mere speculation and are not necessarily the opinions, values, or beliefs of Alan Wheeler.
A BLENDED PATH Christian Reflections on Tarot Word Crimes Technology and Faith........Bad Religion |
topherhester Loyal user 295 Posts |
Will has it right. I like to say I didn’t choose Bizarre, it chose me. I can’t not (double negative acknowledgment) go that direction everytime I perform. Even with after dinner table magic when someone gives me a deck of cards (I’m no slouch when it comes to card magic.. I’ve spent years on the classic pass, top change, doubles, etc) I end up reverting to simple methods and storytelling with the cards. I’d much rather do a cross cut force and tell an intriguing story or talk about some ritual, and weave the reveal into the story, than do elaborate knuckle busting ambitious card routines or whatever. The older I get, the more boring traditional magic becomes because so much of it lacks context, story, and texture. Why is the card rising to the top? If I can weave a tale about it, the routine becomes memorable and has purpose. Maybe a man committed a murder, buries the body but the next day he sees the body has risen back on top of the ground. He fervently digs a new grave. Even deeper. He watches the body go in and he shovels the dirt back. The next day, despite his efforts, there lay the body on top of the ground.. etc. I just made that up as I typed but a simple example about how bizarre will eventually encompass all of your magic. It has mine...
Welcome to the club... there’s still one thing you have to do... the secret ritual all of us spooky and crypt dwellers have to go through. No brownies but there does involve wearing a goats head, drinking a goblet of laymen blood while getting a homemade tattoo of the seal of Astaroth on your buttocks, while reading Prof BC manuscripts backwards...... |
Alan Wheeler Inner circle Posting since 2002 with 2038 Posts |
Thank you so much for that thoughtful explanation, topherhester. I really resonate with making storytelling, theater, and context paramount in a performance. It's probably what has drawn me away from traditional magic into more and more mental demonstrations for psychology classes. I also do a few pieces already that I enjoy more than others which introduce folklore--with rune stones or pendulums, for example. For my English classes at the community college, I sometimes do a version of Eugene Burger's Ashes to Palm, and my wife says that one, of all that I do, comes across the most like a real experience of magic.
I hope I don't have to supply my own goat's head for the initiation. I think I know where to get some layman's blood, though.
The views and comments expressed on this post may be mere speculation and are not necessarily the opinions, values, or beliefs of Alan Wheeler.
A BLENDED PATH Christian Reflections on Tarot Word Crimes Technology and Faith........Bad Religion |
Bogbadger Special user England 626 Posts |
Welcome aboard the good ship bizarre!
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weepinwil Inner circle USA 3828 Posts |
Quote:
On Apr 14, 2019, Alan Wheeler wrote: You may want to provide your own goat head; this group is quite the mischievous ones and while there may be an effect called Sanctum, there is no sanctity here among bizzarest. I remember one guy that didn't want to provide his own goat head so some of the fellows provided it for him. Turns out it was the other end of the goat they placed on his head and we all just laughed and laughed. We still laugh about it today. I hear they still have the hinder part, awaiting the next person who refuses to provide his/her own goat head. After all goats do butt!
"Til Death us do part!" - Weepin Willie
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The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The spooky, the mysterious...the bizarre! » » Coming out of the bizarre closet with a story for you all! (4 Likes) |
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