Misuse of magic

In modern conjuring, it is not considered ethical to give a performance which claims to be anything other than a clever and skillful deception.

Fraudulent psychics or mediums have long capitalised on the popular belief in ESP and other paranormal phenomena for financial gain. Controversy still surrounds the hugely successful 1970s illusionist Uri Geller and his ability to bend spoons, for instance. During the height of the vogue for Spiritualism and the wave of popularity for séances from the 1840s to the 1920s, many fraudulent mediums used conjuring methods to perform illusions such as table-knocking, slate-writing, and telekinetic effects. The great escapologist and illusionist Harry Houdini devoted much of his time to exposing such fraudulent operators. Magicians James Randi and Penn & Teller are involved in similar debunking today. Randi has, for example, shown how people have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous faith healers who, using simple sleight-of-hand, remove chicken-giblet "tumors" from the patient's abdomen. More recently, British magicians Barry and Stuart used some of the Biblical accounts of miracles as inspiration for the tricks they presented in two TV specials.

Con men and grifters often use techniques of conjuring for fraudulent goals. Cheating at card games is an obvious example. Other scams continue to defraud the innocent, despite having been exposed and debunked. The card trick known as "Find the Lady" or "Three-card Monte" is an old favourite of street hustlers, who lure the victim into betting on what seems like an easy and obvious win. Another example is the shell game, in which a pea is hidden under one of three walnut shells, then shuffled around the table (or sidewalk) so slowly as to make the pea's position seemingly obvious. Although these are well-known as frauds, people are still fooled enough to lose money on them.

Learning magic

The teaching of performance magic was once a secretive art. Professional magicians were unwilling to share knowledge with anyone outside the profession to prevent the laity from learning their secrets. This made it difficult for an interested apprentice to learn magic beyond the basics. Some had strict rules against members discussing magic secrets with anyone but established magicians.

From the 1584 publication of Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft until the end of the 19th century, only a few books were available for magicians to learn the craft. Books remain extremely useful today, and are still considered the best way for a student to learn magic. Videos and DVDs are a newer medium of tuition, which many inexperienced magicians rely on as a primary source of information; in reality, many of the methods found in this format are readily found in previously published books. However, they can serve useful as a visual demonstration.

Nowadays, magicians can join magic clubs. Here magicians, both seasoned and novitiate, can work together and help one another for mutual improvement, to learn new techniques, to discuss all aspects of magic, to perform for each other — sharing advice, encouragement and criticism. Before a magician can join one of these clubs, they usually have to perform an audition. The purpose is to show to the membership that they are a magician and not just someone off the street wanting to discover magical secrets.

The world's largest magic organization is the International Brotherhood of Magicians; it publishes a monthly journal, The Linking Ring. The oldest organization is the Society of American Magicians, of which Houdini was a member. In London, England, there is The Magic Circle which houses the largest magic library in Europe. Also PSYCRETS - The British Society of Mystery Entertainers, which caters specifically to mentalists, bizarrists, storytellers, readers, spiritualist performers, and other mystery entertainers. The Magic Castle in Hollywood is home to the Academy of Magical Arts.

History of Magic

The term "Magic" is etymologically derived from the Old Persian word Magi. Performances we would now recognize as conjuring have probably been practiced throughout history. The same level of ingenuity that was used to produce famous ancient deceptions such as the Trojan Horse would also have been used for entertainment, or at least for cheating in gambling games, since time immemorial. However, the profession of the illusionist gained strength only in eighteenth century, and has enjoyed several popular vogues.

From 1756 to 1781, Jacob Philadelphia performed feats of magic, sometimes under the guise of scientific exhibitions, throughout Europe and in Russia. Modern entertainment magic owes much of its origins to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), originally a clockmaker, who opened a magic theatre in Paris in the 1840s. His speciality was the construction of mechanical automata which appeared to move and act as if they were alive. The British performer J N Maskelyne and his partner Cooke established their own theatre, the Egyptian Hall in London's Piccadilly, in 1873. They presented stage magic, exploiting the potential of the stage for hidden mechanisms and assistants, and the control it offers over the audience's point of view. The escapologist and magician Harry Houdini (real name Ehrich Weiss, 1874 - 1926), took his stage name from Robert-Houdin and developed a range of stage magic tricks, many of them based on escapology (though that word was not used until after Houdini's death). The son of a Hungarian rabbi, Houdini was genuinely highly skilled in techniques such as lockpicking and escaping straitjackets, but also made full use of the whole range of conjuring techniques, including fake equipment and collusion with individuals in the audience. Houdini's showbusiness savvy was as great as his performing skill. There is a Houdini Museum dedicated to him in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In addition to expanding the range of magic hardware, showmanship and deceptive technique, these performers established the modern relationship between the performer and the audience.