Class V: Conjury (Orange)
“The magician lives in a world that is not perceptible for the ‘muggle.’ But one of his functions is
to re-enchant the world. To do so, he must suspend your rational mind, and the best way to do it
is the use of trickery. Creating a suspension of disbelief, he makes you able to perceive the beauty
and enchantment of the world. If he can create a state of mind—or better, a state of soul—and
provoke an emotion of such quality that the only name you can give to that emotion is ‘magic,’ he
has the right to be called a magician. This is the poetic aspect of magic, one of the superior forms
of the art. We travel in far places all over the world, and magic, as a poetic language, has always
been considered as a common language between us and the people we meet.”
—Christian ChelmanLesson 2. Magical Special
Effects for Theatrical Ritual
—by Jeff “Magnus” McBrideToday we watch as stage magicians cut beauti-
ful women in half on television and then re-
store them to their smiling original form
or Las Vegas showmen
transform themselves
into white tigers. “This
isn’t real magic,” we might
say... or is it? Are they tell-
ing a story? Could they re-
ally be shapeshifters? Could
these often-unappealing
exoteric dramas point beyond
themselves to the greater esoteric
themes of mythology and ritual?
The Shaman and the showman
have much in common in the retell-
ing of the great mystery dramas of
life, death, and rebirth, and they still
have much to learn from each other!
Most performance magicians we see on
stage or on television are not aware
of the shamanistic origins of their
artform. Until recently, many mod-
ern day ritualists had all but forgotten the traditional
shamans’ bag of tricks. Over the past 11 years I have
been involved with creating ritual theater experiences
for the magickal community. As a stage magician and a
ritual theater director, I have gathered together a col-
lection of magical goodies to add to your spell kit. Let
us take another look at the techniques that have been
handed down to us by our magical ancestors.
Many popular entertainments may be traced back
to a single source—the rituals of Shamanism, which
were functional rituals of similar pattern that operated
within a variety of metaphysical systems. Authentic
magical ritual often precedes popular magic. Very dif-
ferent types of performance, such as magic acts, ac-
robatics, puppetry, and fire-eating can be shown to
have derived from, or at least been preceded by, the- Introduction:
The Magic of Illusions
LSO CALLED STAGE MAGIC AND PER-
formance magic, conjuring or illu-
sion magic deals with “miraculous”
illusions and special effects. De-
signed to amaze and
mystify on-
lookers, the
conjuring arts
originated with the first Shamans. Magic
performance and theatre have always
been linked to the magician (Shaman,
Prophet, Wizard). Theatre means “see the
gods.” Various types of performance, such
as magic acts, acrobatics, juggling, puppetry,
and fire-eating all originated in such rituals.
Recall the transformation of Aaron’s and
the Egyptian magicians’ staffs into snakes
in the presence of Pharaoh. Aaron’s snake
eats those of the Egyptian magi, indicating
that the Hebrews will gain their freedom.
Magic was used to concretize the Proph-
ecy. The magic of illusions and conjurations opens
a door out of mundane reality into a magickal
realm that reveals deeper truths.Donald Michael Kraig says: “Illusion magic is
generally divided into three main categories:
stage, parlor, and close-up. The difference is the
location of the performance and how close the
audience is to the performer. There is also an-
other set of categories that has to do not with the
setting, but rather with the presentation. Thus,
comedy magic can be done on a stage, in a par-
lor, or close up. The same is true of mentalism,
sleight-of-hand (most frequently described as ma-
nipulative magic), bizarre magik, etc. Of course,
the ‘Grand Illusions’ of Copperfield or Siegfried &
Roy involving vanishing assistants or big cats are
often limited to the stage, although some smaller
ones can be presented in the parlor setting.”Corrected pages 3rd printing.2.p65 31 6/10/2004, 4:02 PM