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BrooklynBoy200
Guest
Are magic tricks and card tricks ok as long as the magician isn’t claiming to be God or use any divine powers or anything?
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Catholic90
Guest
Uh, you DO realize that card tricks and magicians’ tricks are ILLUSIONS? You aren’t really seeing what you THINK you’re seeing!
No “divine” powers are used in card tricks!
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IanBoyd57
Guest
Think of magic like Houdini did. He was one of the greatest magicians of all time, yet hated it when people claimed to be magical supernatural mystics and instead preferred to look at the sleight of hand that all their ‘miracles’ and ‘tricks’ came down to.
Houdini was obsessed with disproving these frauds, and would often copy their miracles and magic by using sleight of hand. He’d pull off the same tricks that they would use to attract hourdes of sheep-brained followers, but without claiming to be God or divine or trying to manipulate them in any way.
Houdini was obsessed with disproving these frauds, and would often copy their miracles and magic by using sleight of hand. He’d pull off the same tricks that they would use to attract hourdes of sheep-brained followers, but without claiming to be God or divine or trying to manipulate them in any way.
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Liberian
Guest
Brooklyn Boy,
The difference you are pointing out is the difference between conjuring and working with demons. Conjuring–“magic tricks,” card tricks, and other sleight of hand–is perfectly innocuous. Working with demons is not.
- Liberian
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Jay2
Guest
Are the “magicians” calling upon the occult, or the dark angels to give the desired result to their “tricks”??
It’s called illusion, sleight of hand… fooling the mind into thinking it’s seeing what seems impossible.
Spend your energy on something worthwhile…
It’s called illusion, sleight of hand… fooling the mind into thinking it’s seeing what seems impossible.
Spend your energy on something worthwhile…
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aboverubies
Guest
One of these replies is not like the other ones,
Come on can you tell me which one?
Can you tell me which kid is doin’ his own thing?
Now before my song is done…
And now my song is done!
Come on can you tell me which one?
Can you tell me which kid is doin’ his own thing?
Now before my song is done…
And now my song is done!
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Mintaka
Guest
There’s nothing wrong with prestidigitation and stage magic. It’s a beautiful skill, and an education for people to be careful observers.
A lot of professional magicians seem to be pretty arrogant. However, this is true of a lot of performers, and usually only is skin deep – a coverup for deep anxiety and self-esteem problems. As with every job, the trick is to like your customers and want to please them, not hate and despise them or be desperate for their approval.
A lot of professional magicians seem to be pretty arrogant. However, this is true of a lot of performers, and usually only is skin deep – a coverup for deep anxiety and self-esteem problems. As with every job, the trick is to like your customers and want to please them, not hate and despise them or be desperate for their approval.
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BrooklynBoy200
Guest
Of course i realize it isn’t real. I’m talking about magicians you see at shows, not wizards and witches. I was just wondering, like you know, when you ask them how they did something they usually say “magic”, they don’t go into detail about how it is all fake and they can’t believe you are watching them.
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Mintaka
Guest
Stage magicians have a code, or an aesthetic if you like, whereby they don’t reveal how they do their tricks. In general, it spoils their audience’s pleasure if they do. (Also, the precise workings of their tricks are trade secrets, sometimes even using patented mechanisms. People are allowed to keep secrets that help keep them in business; they don’t have to tell competitors all their knowhow.)
However, their whole profession only “works” for people as a pleasurable and trivial experience, if magic is not real. They know this, and they expect others to know this.
Artists generally don’t want to come out and say, “Look, this image is really only an artful arrangement of chemicals of various hues which create the illusion of a three dimensional scene.” It’s implicit to how their art works, but saying so would spoil people’s pleasure.
Furthermore, stage magicians as a profession are very militant about rooting out fakes claiming to have magical or psychic power. They are perfectly willing to reveal how people like that do their tricks.
You can also easily learn the basics of stage magic yourself, because all sorts of books on simple magic tricks, written by stage magicians, are available. The principles revealed in these books are the same ones used by the most complicated tricks.
However, their whole profession only “works” for people as a pleasurable and trivial experience, if magic is not real. They know this, and they expect others to know this.
Artists generally don’t want to come out and say, “Look, this image is really only an artful arrangement of chemicals of various hues which create the illusion of a three dimensional scene.” It’s implicit to how their art works, but saying so would spoil people’s pleasure.
Furthermore, stage magicians as a profession are very militant about rooting out fakes claiming to have magical or psychic power. They are perfectly willing to reveal how people like that do their tricks.
You can also easily learn the basics of stage magic yourself, because all sorts of books on simple magic tricks, written by stage magicians, are available. The principles revealed in these books are the same ones used by the most complicated tricks.
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Liberian
Guest
Good heavens, I can think of very little that is more worthwhile than making a bunch of little kids laugh and squeal with glee at the wonders they are witnessing.
We hired a magician (conjurer) from our church for our six-year-old son’s birthday party. The trick that I remember the best was when he “threw” a deck of cards around the room and “caught” them in his other hand. The kids were delighted!
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Catholic90
Guest
I think what the “worthwhile” statement was referring to was to the OP for worrying that illusionary tricks are evil.
They are not.
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StCsDavid
Guest
As long as the magician’s name isn’t Bar-Jesus (Acts 13) you’re probably okay. 
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Sixtus
Guest
I think it is ok. But we must never convey the impression that it is a ‘power’ behind it. There is only One Power. That is Almighty God.
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Durendin
Guest
If anyone who had claimed to have accumilated evil supernatural powers and was using it to perform stage tricks came in front of me, I’d roll about the floor laughing at him. (No supernatural magic required!)
Righty, that’s magicians out of the way. I’m more concerned about Santa Claus. What evil mojo is he using to deliver presents to the children on Christmas? Point being, I think we’re giving far too much credit to what is in essence, “a sack of balls”.
Righty, that’s magicians out of the way. I’m more concerned about Santa Claus. What evil mojo is he using to deliver presents to the children on Christmas? Point being, I think we’re giving far too much credit to what is in essence, “a sack of balls”.
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Sixtus
Guest
Actually, I have never thought about this before.
Of course you are right. What sort of magic does he use?
White? Black? Multi-coloured I would say!!
But, no actually, you probably have a very valid point.
Fortunately, children are probably too taken up by the glitz of it all to worry too much about the magic that is alleged to be behind it
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Kay_Cee
Guest
In years past, when kids came to our door on Halloween and said, “Trick or treat!” I used to bring out a deck of cards and ask which they wanted–a trick or a treat.
If they opted for the trick, I’d fan out the cards face up before them to show it was an ordinary deck of playing cards. I then shuffled the deck several times. I’d ask the youngest person there to pick a number between one and ten (let’s say he picked 5).
“Let me show you what I want you to do,” I’d say. I’d count five cards from the top, then replace them on the top of the deck. “Now you count five cards down.”
The child would count down five cards. The fifth card would be his card which he’d show to everyone but me (let’s say it was the ace of diamonds). He then replaced the card into the deck. The deck was again shuffled several times. I then placed the deck on top of a book and told them we’d see if his card could travel all the way through the rest of the deck and into the book.
I’d tap the top of the deck, have the kid open the book, and sure enough, there was the ace of diamonds!
Some kids loved this trick so much they refused to take any Halloween candy after it was performed.
It is, of course, just a trick. Nothing supernatural about it.
If they opted for the trick, I’d fan out the cards face up before them to show it was an ordinary deck of playing cards. I then shuffled the deck several times. I’d ask the youngest person there to pick a number between one and ten (let’s say he picked 5).
“Let me show you what I want you to do,” I’d say. I’d count five cards from the top, then replace them on the top of the deck. “Now you count five cards down.”
The child would count down five cards. The fifth card would be his card which he’d show to everyone but me (let’s say it was the ace of diamonds). He then replaced the card into the deck. The deck was again shuffled several times. I then placed the deck on top of a book and told them we’d see if his card could travel all the way through the rest of the deck and into the book.
I’d tap the top of the deck, have the kid open the book, and sure enough, there was the ace of diamonds!
Some kids loved this trick so much they refused to take any Halloween candy after it was performed.
It is, of course, just a trick. Nothing supernatural about it.
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love4mary
Guest
St. John Bosco, Patron Saint of Magicians. Found this out today from my priest who was once a profession magician.
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Sixtus
Guest
Thankyou LOVE4MARY, that is a useful piece of information. I didn’t know that. I have a friend who lovesSt. John Bosco. I bet she did not know that.
God bless you
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Gertabelle
Guest
A priest at my parish in college loved to dabble in card tricks and things of that sort. One Sunday, he included a bit of “magic” into his sermon. He produced, as if from nowhere, a bouquet of feathery silk flowers. Unfortunately the little wire mechanism that was part of the trick cut his thumb and he bled throughout the sermon. For a moment, those of us in the choir thought he’d received the stigmata!St. John Bosco, Patron Saint of Magicians. Found this out today from my priest who was once a profession magician.
Perhaps these sorts of tricks should not be used to illustrate a point during a sermon? Otherwise, as so many others have said, these tricks of themselves are perfectly harmless, sharp little wires notwithstanding.
Gertie
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NancyMyers101
Guest
Here’s magic tricks on iPhones –
Check out these cool Magic tricks for your iPhone:
phonemagictricks.com/
The Six Pack is 6 tricks bundled into one app:
itunes.apple.com/us/app/6-pack-phone-magic-tricks/id472623962?mt=8
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