Hi I'm writing a paper for school about magic (as I'm a magician) and I was wondering what facts you could give me about how the concept of magic started and such. If you can't find a source, don't worry I will cross-reference my information.

Thanks!

Matt

Exploring the boundary between the me and the not-me has been with us all since infancy.

Look at the cave paintings of the bison, the hunt, the dots... a vision captured in pigments a long, long time ago.

You might want to start by exploring the word "because".

It all started as a way to get women and free drinks. Come to think of it...

'Lessee...Og the caveman was sitting around the campfire with his fellow Neanderthals holding a pebble in his hand. Og had the irresistible urge to sneeze and upon doing so dropped the pebble on the ground. The sneeze caused a reflex action in the other cavemen causing them to blink. When they opened their eyes the pebble was gone from Og's hand. The first use of misdirection and camouflage causing a minor miracle.

FWIW

...Suddenly, Trog points to the sky. Og looks up and Trog steals Og's food. That was the first paid magic performance.

Whatever you do, don't crib a paper from the internet or copy a bunch of nonsense from Wikipedia. You won't learn anything that way.

The study of magic is also the study of mythology and religion. Read some of the material from Jeff McBride and Eugene Burger's work with the Mystery School.

If you do this right, it will be a passion that takes you into the interior of magic and the interior of your psyche as well.

The origin of magic the first time some set their keys down and turned away for a second, turned back and they were gone. We've been trying to crack that trick for centuries.

Modern magic began the first time anyone put two socks into a washing machine and only one came out.

Air pockets.

It's those guys that rearrange time. Once in a while they forget to put something back in it's place and.........MAGIC!

Thank you for the insight and humor! I came to the same conclusion a few months ago when I began my research. Magic is just a necessity of culture. It explains the unknown. I will attatch my paper in a month or so when it is done!!

As you may have gathered from the PM I sent you, it's not a simple task. Joseph Campbell spent his whole life researching it and writing about it, from a different viewpoint, of course.

Also, you might want to get hold of The Golden Bough by Frazier.

Do not take Bill's advice lightly. Do not sell magic short.

I do not know about performance magic "explaining the unknown" as you say, but it does for a few moments at least allow people to believe that through the magician, they can have a limited power over their environment that is otherwise out of their control.

Being able to control their environment is a deep seated psychological drive that people have. And of course something impossible to achieve in this world/universe.

Know one can control everything around themselves, except perhaps for the "Magician"!!



regards,

Mark

I have looked at some Joseph Cambell stuff about the Odyssey for another class. I didn't realize he studied magic. I will look into his work.

Several years ago, I was asked by a civic group to give a talk about magic. So I started with "How many of you have ever attended or witnessed a magical ritual?" No hands went up. Then I asked, "How many of you have ever attended a church service?" All the hands went up.

Then I said: "Guess what."

They looked puzzled. So I continued: "A magical ritual is an attempt by a person or a group of people to influence the world around them by invoking a powerful spirit, following a set pattern of recitations, and sometimes by chanting or singing important phrases. Does that sound familiar?"

It was thought-provoking to say the least.

A look at some of the ancient Greek & Roman temples will show that there were magic tricks built into many of them, such as the Holy Water dispenser that you paid for, as well as the one that, when certain items were lit, would open the temple doors! Great works of ingenuity that translated to magic for the masses.

I've always suspected that coin-operated vending machines were possessed by demons. The spell for subduing them involves beating on the machine with your fists and cursing the demons back to perdition. Then you may get your Coke, which tastes far better than holy water.

There are some good articles on the origins of magic & magic history at http://www.topsmag.com by Paul Nielsen. You can find his articles by clicking on his name where it says "Contributors" on the right hand side. Paul owns several magic shops in the Detroit area and is easy to reach (check out his bio at topsmag.com for contact info).

I'll send you a story you can use

Excerpt from Creativity '07 By Dan Sylvester "the Jester" (Lecture notes.)

"So Imagine now you are Early Man thousands of years ago on a moonlit night you see someone kneeling with his head bowed and his hands clasped together in front of him a bit of curious movement in his hands and suddenly a spark; light! and finally fire! At that moment if you hadn't fainted you may have spotted a stick of wood between his hands and wondered if this stick may hold magical powers or if this mans prostrate position was the secret for communion with the divine. Who can say for sure? But it could be that the stick (or wand) for making fire has been passed down to magicians today. And may be the position people assume when they pray came from this fire making position of long, long ago. We can never know but I'd be remiss in talking about art, magic or creativity and not talk about its possible origins even if they are theoretical."

If you get stuck on Crowley- remember who he was writing for. Moore does a nice job offering some perspective. Or say says the mongoose in the basket here. ( note to our newbies: that is plaintext and just google "moore, basket, crowley, basket, magic" to point you to some fun educational material") Don't thank me, thanks Promethea