Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

242 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

Magick Envelope

Illusion: You can produce things from an empty enve-

lope, or change things into something else.

Arcanum: Take a standard #10 white envelope. Cut a

piece of white paper (card stock) to the exact same

size as the envelope, so it fits perfectly inside. This

makes a double envelope with two sections (Fig.

1). To make things (silk scarves, flowers, notes,

leaves, feathers, etc.) appear

out of an empty envelope,

first hide them in the back pocket, then

hold that pocket shut with your thumb while you

show the front pocket to be empty. Then close the

envelope flap, and when you open it again, this

time stick your thumb into the back pocket to hold

it open while you dump out its contents into

someone’s hands. As you empty the back pocket,

show your audience only the side of the envelope

that doesn’t have the opening, or they will detect

the double pocket.

You can use the same trick to make things

turn into something else. You can turn a leaf into a

feather, petals into a flower, or torn-up pieces of a

leaf into a whole one.

Genie Bottle

Effect: You stick one end of an ordinary rope into the

mouth of a bottle, and the bottle will just dangle in

midair as you hold up the other end of the rope.

You can even swing it around, and it won’t fall off.

You can then easily remove the rope and pass both

rope and bottle around for inspection.

Arcanum: The secret is a small rubber ball (like for the

game of jacks), just small enough to fit easily

through the neck of the bottle. The bottle itself must

be opaque, with a neck. Various juice drink bottles

are excellent for this. The rope should be about ¼”

thick. Keep the rubber ball in your pocket until

you’re ready to insert the rope, and you can even

pass the bottle around beforehand. Palm the ball in

the hand holding the rope (Fig. 2), and drop it

into the bottle as you insert the rope. Then turn the

bottle upside-down to lower the ball, wedg-

ing the rope and ball into the neck of the

bottle as you pull out slightly on the rope

(Fig. 3). When you’re done dangling and

swinging the bottle, pull the rope out

gently along with the ball, and carefully

palm the ball as it emerges. Pocket the

ball surreptitiously as you offer the

rope and bottle to your audience to

inspect once again.

Rising Card

Effect: You, and only you, can make a card rise up

from a glass on your command. You set an empty

drinking glass on the table, and a deck of cards.

Ask a volunteer to pick any card from the deck

and hand it to you. Push the card down into the

glass and challenge them to try and talk it into ris-

ing. Nothing happens. Try the same thing with

someone else. When it’s your turn, take your card

and do something “mystical” (rub it on your sleeve,

say a magic word, tap it with your wand...). Insert

it into the glass and say: “Rise!” This time, the card

slowly rises up on your command.

Arcanum: This requires a glass with

tapered sides, narrower at the bot-

tom, with the opening no wider

than the width of a card. You

have previously prepared the

glass by rubbing a piece of dry

soap along the inside, on op-

posite sides, leaving two strips

about ½” wide (Fig. 4). When

you insert your volunteers’

cards, push them down along

the unsoaped sides. Then in your

turn, push your card down along

the soapy sides and it will slowly

slide back up on the film of soap.

Invisible Thread Tricks

For the following effects, fine black thread or fine

monofilament fishline is required. Also, you must wear

dark clothes. These illusions must be performed in

somewhat dim lighting, or far enough away from the

audience that they cannot see the thread. The finer the

thread, the closer audiences can be. Stretch out a length

of thread across your set and test the lighting and dis-

tance yourself beforehand. If you can see the thread,

so will your audience!

Rising Wand

Illusion: A stick dropped into a bottle held in your

hand mysteriously rises out of the bottle and into

the air, where you catch it in your other hand.

Arcanum: Tie one end of a 2’ length of invisible thread

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Palming

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

(Soap film)

Insert card to create

separate compartments

5. Spectrum 1.p65 242 1/15/2004, 9:15 AM