In this recorded LIVE video chat session, I very briefly tell the story of how I first came to love magic and how I got started as a magician ( I was "tricked" into it!}.  Seriously, I perform a few fun magic tricks for the audience, explain how I do the tricks, and then answer questions.  I also teach the audience how to do a couple of easy magic tricks!

Click the link below for free access to this ebook (PDF file): 

https://juliusmagic.webs.com/Howard%20Thurston%20400%20Tricks.pdf

You will find effects with cards, coins, silks, liquid, eggs, balls, and misc. other items.  Enjoy and be sure to practice with a fellow magician before performing for friends, family and audiences.

The Value of Magic as a Teaching Tool - Free PDF Teaching Tool

The Nelsons have put together a nice 25 page PDF to faciliate teaching magic to kids of all ages. Although the effects they teach are not difficult, they do serve to make their point. There are a couple of detailed articles about magic and several lists of interest to magicians. Nothing to download. The PDF will open when you click the link. Since it's designed for printing and freely distributing.. it's printer frendly.

- Learning magic involves provides practice at following and interpreting printed instructions.

- Learning magic involves reading, research and memory work. Practicing magic teaches that patience and perseverance bring rewards.

- The performance of magic involves learning how to plan and multi-task.

- Performing magic provides practice at public speaking skills.

- Learning to perform magic provides shy people with a special ability that can help boost confidence.

- Performing magic involves developing creative writing skills used in creating "patter" scripts to go along with tricks. Creative writing skills are also required for scripting actions in magic routines and recording instructions on how to perform tricks.

- Practicing small magic tricks improves dexterity in people with normal motor skills.

- For people with impaired motor skills, learning magic tricks provides the motivation to do therapeutic exercises that result in improved movement and gratification from achievement when a trick is successfully performed.

- Inventing or developing a magic trick involves problem solving, learning how to think outside the box, and inspires the use of imagination and creativity.

- Building magic tricks requires use of drawing, design, crafting and other artistic skills.

- Magic inspires us with wonder and causes us to consider what it might be possible to achieve.

- It teaches us that we can be fooled and that we don't always know or understand everything.

- Magic encourages us to think.

http://www.nelsonillusions.com/Shop/Nelson%20Illusions%20Workbooklet.pdf

Do you feel inspired to learn more about magic as a performing art o hobby?

Do you want to perform magical illusions yourself?

Now, you can teach yourself how to perform magic!

Learn Rope Magic with JULIUS MAGIC:

Learn Sponge Ball Magic:

The world of magic first captivated Julius at a very young age. When he was a very young boy, his parents owned a Hungarian restaurant in New York City where he was born, and one day a butcher delivered a pig to her, carrying it over his shoulder. 

Awed by the sight of the man dressed in a long white coat, little Julius was delighted when the butcher magically pulled a quarter out of the pig’s ear. Then made it vanish. And then pulled the coin out of Julius’ ear.

“I was fascinated,” says Julius, now a professional magician with the stage name JULIUS MAGIC.

Magic!

The power of magic is not in the illusion or trick we think we see

It's in the imagination; the image the magician creates.

The way it makes us feel . . . . . . that certain sense . . . . . . . . .

of childlike . . . . . . . wonder.

Having never forgotten his feelings of wonder and amazement at that moment, he now delights in entertaining children and adults with magical illusions. He can make a black scarf turn multicolored just by waving it in the air. He can make a deck of cards vanish in front of a child’s eyes. He can put one ball into a spectator’s hand and then have it multiply into many. And he can make a rope appear to pass right through his waist, one of his favorite tricks.

“I do that one at the end of the show,” says Julius, who performs at children’s birthday parties and corporate events. “I save it for last, because it’s the most memorable.”

He engages his audience throughout his shows, striving to make it appear that they are the ones doing the magic. Which he says surprises them, and makes them laugh. "I learned that laughter is important,” he says. “The more I can make them laugh, the more they’ll enjoy the magic.”

Despite his early fascination with magic, Julius didn’t become a serious magician until later in life. He attended Yale University for three years and then 20 years later finished his bachelor’s degree, followed by a Masters Degree in Science and Management.

He’s worked in sales most of his life, and schedules magic gigs around his day job. He was always fascinated by magic, and tried to learn some tricks from books, “but it wasn’t until I was in my forties that I was lucky enough to go to a magic convention,” he says.

He took his young daughter with him, thinking magic would be a fun way to entertain her. They saw dozens of magicians and after seeing some cool sleight of hand magic performed, he bought some super soft sponge balls.

As he drove home, his daughter taught herself a sponge ball trick by reading the instructions while riding in the back seat . . . and his little girl amazed him with magic! She inspired Julius to learn, practice and begin entertaining people at work. Then he started shopping in magic stores, where he bought more tools of the trade. Shortly after learning a few more effects, he got his first paid gig as a restaurant magician! One gig led to another and now he loves performing magic for kids, families and businesses.

While many of his props are designed for magicians, much of magic can be done with unprepared props, such as real coins, he says. Learning how to perform illusions takes skill, practice, and investment in time and money. He looks forward to perhaps doing magic full time one day. “One of my dreams after I retire is to be able to travel the world and do magic shows in other countries,” he says. “It’s a dream—but you never know.”

As a result of learning magic, people of all ages can:

have fun

help heal people

earn better grades

share their joy with others

improve their success in school

receive invitations to many parties

teach others how to perform magic

meet people and make new friends

win prizes at school fundraiser sales

make extra money in their spare time

make others feel special and appreciated

become better readers and critical thinkers

improve their public speaking skills and confidence

become the most popular guest and family favorite

"work" their way through college performing magic shows

provide therapeutic rehabilitation to others using "magic therapy"

develop more confidence & new skills learning how to perform magic

receive personal rewards and satisfaction from bringing smiles to faces

Few people know about the therapeutic, rehabilitative healing power of magic available through programs like David Copperfield's PROJECT MAGIC and Kevin Spencer's HEALING of MAGIC:

David Copperfield's Project Magic is a program designed to give the gift of magic to people with a variety of diagnosis, such as those with cancer, arthritis, spinal cord injury, brain injury, drug and alcohol abuse, chronic pain and learning disabilities. 

Teams of magicians and occupational therapists work together to teach sleight of hand to physically challenged patients to aid in their rehabilitation.

By learning to perform magic, individuals achieve new skill levels, which motivates their rehabilitation progress, and develops and improves their self-concept.

Project Magic also assists in the development of competent, achievement-oriented behavior, which is necessary if the hospitalized, disabled individual is to successfully re-enter the outside community.

Project Magic provides interested magicians, educators, and medical professionals all over the world with information and written material on magical effects and their therapeutic value.

As a result, this establishes a network of communication and social group interaction for all participants, based on the new, shared, common interest of magic.

The tricks taught in Project Magic functions on several different levels, and were designed to help improve dexterity, coordination, visual perception, spatial relationships, and cognitive skills.

There are specific magic tricks developed for varying disabilities. Another, and perhaps, more important benefit of Project Magic, is that it motivates the patients' therapy and helps them build self-esteem.

David Copperfield got the idea for Project Magic from a magician that he had been corresponding with for some time. Once, when Copperfield received a press clipping in one of the letters, he was surprised to learn from the photograph that the young man was in a wheelchair.

"He had never referred to the fact that he was in a wheelchair," explained Copperfield. "His own self-image wasn't one that had a disability." This led Copperfield to wonder if magic could help recovering patients gain the same self-confidence.

In February 1982, Copperfield brought his idea to the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, California, which was recognized by the National Association of Rehabilitation Facilities as the "outstanding rehabilitation center of 1981".

The occupational therapy department quickly embraced the concept, realizing that it could offer other benefits beyond just bolstering the patients' self-image. Copperfield began collaborating with Julie Dunlap, the hospital's assistant director of occupational therapy, to develop tricks that could be applied to treat various disabilities.

They soon discovered that Project Magic presented the patients with a pleasing distraction from the often painful and tedious hours of therapy, and motivated them to work harder than before. The participants also gained self-confidence by being able to do things that others could not.

The occupational therapists using Project Magic work in teams with local volunteer magicians. The magician first teaches the illusions to the therapists, then together, they instruct the patients on how to perform the illusions. The therapists then helps the patients to master the techniques involved during the following week. After a week, the magicians return and give advice on how to polish up the magical feat by using other techniques such as misdirection and the proper stage presence.

"Project Magic is presently employed in hundreds of hospitals throughout the world," comments Copperfield. "I am pleased to say that the American Occupational Therapist Association has endorsed this program as being an authentic therapeutic tool."

For more information about how you can support or contribute to Project Magic, you can click here to go to David Copperfield's website: http://www.dcopperfield.com/flash/project.swf

Close-Up Magic - Sleight-of-hand magic, also known as prestidigitation ("quick fingers") or léger de main (Fr., "lightness of hand") to secretly manipulate small objects such as sponge balls, cards and coins.  A magician  performs close-up magic in an intimate setting usually no more than a ten-foot (three-meter) distance from the audience with the party guests all around him.   The magic happens right in front of you "in your hands."  This performance is best for relatively small groups of people.  Sleight of hand magic is intended for more intimate environments.   Perfect for kids and adult birthdays, receptions, cocktail or dinner parties, trade shows, hospitality suites and restaurants.  The magic involves colorful silk handkerchiefs, money, ropes, rings, coins, cards and other small objects.

Table Magic -  Performed on a table with the audience in front.   This type of performance is not limited to magic that must be performed solely "in the hands" because props can rest on the magicians table or pad.  This performance is also best for a relatively small group of people. Sleight of hand magic is intended for more intimate environments.  Perfect for birthdays, receptions, cocktail or dinner parties, trade shows, hospitality suites and restaurants. Magic involves coins, cards and other small objects.

Stand-Up Magic -  Performed while standing in front of the entire audience.   This type of performance is suitable for either a small group, or with proper staging (lights, microphone, etc.), the audience can consist of several hundred people.  This act features comedy and audience participation and it is particularly appropriate for large parties and banquets.   Perfect for private parties, trade shows, banquets, conventions and corporate entertainment.

Mingling Magic -  Performed in the magician's or guests hands while the magician mingles with the guests.   This type of performing is most suitable for events where there is not a specific performing area such as a reception or cocktail party and usually involves some audience participation.

If you were to weigh the benefits of learning how to perform magic illusions against buying another video game the comparison becomes clear. Learning Magic with your child can pay back immensely over the course of a lifetime! What benefits does another video game offer?

The last thing you want is to frustrate your child with magic tricks that are too complicated for your child's age or ability! Frustration can set in if things aren't going right for your child.

Learning tricks alone without learning how to perform them willnot move a child's confidence forward. More likely it will just increase their anxiety that they aren't good enough to show them to anyone.

I recommend "self-working" illusions for beginners and younger children. Please take the time to enjoy magic with them! Help them to understand and practice magic tricks. It's a great opportunity for you to spend more time with your child and perhaps develop a hobby that you both love!

Ask anyone who has ever seen a magic show, and you’ll hear“Magic is Fun!” Not only is magic fun to watch, but it is also fun to perform. Magic can make people smile, laugh and marvel at the mysterious wonders the magician presents, if, of course, you present the magic properly.

Above all, please understand that magic is nothing more than illusion used in an entertaining way. No mortal truly possesses magical powers. Realize that you will be learning how to entertain with illusions which make it appear that you have magical powers.Don’t claim to be supernatural or better than anyone else. Magic is designed to do two things: amaze and entertain your audience

Magic offers amazement, excitement and mystery, but it must always entertain those involved, either as spectators or as participants.Perfecting magical techniques is one thing, but it is quite another to go out and face an audience, knowing that they are waiting to be entertained. Buying a magic set or a magic book doesn’ tautomatically make you a magician, but with practice and interest,you could go a long way.

Every game, profession, or organization has certain rules to adhere to. I recommend following generally accepted "rules of magic":

Never tell your secrets. A magician never gives away the secret of a magic trick. The audience’s enjoyment of magic is to a certain extent due to the mystery of how the magic happened. To tell the secret of a trick would deny the audience of that enjoyment. Once people know how to do a trick, all of the mystery is gone. Plus, if they can do the trick too, your talent and skill is no longer special to them. People are naturally fascinated by magic as long as they don’t know how it’s done. So, keep it that way! Keep the secret!

Magician’s Oath

Throughout history, magicians have maintained an oath of secrecy. This oath is a cornerstone of the magician's art, in that it both binds magicians into a world-wide brotherhood and serves as a constant reminder of their responsibilities as deceptive entertainers.

The original magician's oath was written some 2,400 years ago by Charlatates, the Greek father of modern magic. Over the years, the oath has been modified to keep up with changing times (for example, the bit about not performing for women has been removed), but its core has remained intact.

The current magician's oath, as used in the ascension ceremony though which every magician must pass before being recognized, is as follows:

The Magician's Oath

I promise I will always guard against exposing the secrets of magic, whether through lack of practice before performing, or through explanation to any person not entitled to know the secrets. I make this promise seriously,realizing that in violating it, I am not only violating my word of honor, but I am violating the trust and rights of all other magicians who, by the very nature of their form of entertainment, are entitled to the preservation of the secrets of magic.

The only exception to this secrecy rule is when students need a little extra help and ask Mom, Dad or an older sibling to help interpret instructions. Students should always guard against exposing secrets unnecessarily.

Practice, practice, practice! Practice is learning the secret, learning how to execute the trick, and then lots of rehearsal. Never perform a magic trick for someone unless you can do it really well.The best magician is a well-rehearsed magician! It is a good idea to practice in front of a mirror, to get an idea of what the audience would see.

Never repeat a trick for the same person. If they ask you to do it again…..and they will…. they are really looking for an opportunity to catch you in the secret the next time. So, DON’T DO IT AGAIN …. keep them wondering!

Anyone can do a "trick"; only magicians can perform magical illusions. Your performance affects your audience’s perception of every other magician. If you perform well, they’ll think that all magicians are good, and visa versa if you perform poorly. Make sure that your performance is high quality so you’ll be remembered for your good work.

Be a good audience member. Now that you will be learning some magical secrets, if you see someone performing, you MUST treat that person the same way YOU want to be treated. In other words, don’t let them or the audience know that you know how the tricks are done.

Most importantly, be yourself and perform magic to entertain and mystify, not to show you are better than others. Remember,always try to entertain your audience and treat them with respect. Without an audience, there is no magic.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Who do you know that has expressed a desire to learn how to perform magic tricks themselves after they've seen a magician do what appears to represent "the impossible"?

When have you or anyone you know experienced feelings of wonder during and after a magic performance?

How strong is your curiosity or desire to learn how it works?

Are you inspired to want to learn more?

Please visit http://www.juliusmagic.webs.comto learn more about how JULIUS MAGIC can benefit you, your children,and your organization.

Have you ever felt wonder during and after a magic performance?

Can you remember the first time you saw a magical illusion?

Do you remember believing that real magic was happening?  Or were you skeptical?

You may have even dreamed about being able to do magic and having superpowers. 

You may have developed a curiosity or desire to learn how it worked.  

You probably felt inspired to want to learn more. 

Did you have someone available who could teach you?

Did you read books that explained and taught magic? 

Did you watch magic instructional videos? 

Did you go to magic shops or these days, order magic online?

If you now want to learn how to perform more convincing magical illusions yourself! or perhaps coach someone in becoming a magician, stay tuned to this blog.  You will be able to ask questions and make comments. 

Ultimately, you can learn to do what appears to represent "the impossible"!

You will soon begin your magician's journey and learn how to perform "feats of visual and mental amusement." 

As you become an amateur or hobby magician, you will learn techniques of deception, misdirection, and sleight of hand as well as how to use various gimmicks and secrets.  However, you will never use your knowledge and skills to harm or cause a loss to anyone. 

You will only use these methods for a good purpose.  When watching a magic performance, everybody expects to feel wonder puzzled.  They're left to find out the mystery on their own, the best way they can.

Of course, you will never reveal a magic secret method either intentionally or accidentally to a non-magician.  To ensure this you practice and practice and practice!  By the way, if you haven't learned the magician's oath yet, please see my blog titled "The Magician's Oath."

When you start to learn magic and gegin to amaze and delight your friends and family, many of them will beg and plead for you to reveal the secret. 

You will feel tempted to tell them how it's done.  Of course, you will not share the secret with them. 

That would take all the mystery, wonderment and magic out of your newly acquired skills. 

You will have wasted all of your hard efforts in learning how to perform magic. 

All the fun will "disappear."  Magic is about amusing your audience and leaving them with a feeling of awe.

Therefore, before I start sharing specifics on how to perform specific illusions in future articles, I will start by asking my readers to review and let me know whether or not they agree to uphold the Magician's Oath:.

"As a magician I promise never to reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician, unless that one swears to uphold the Magician's Oath in turn.  I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic."

If you are truly dedicated to learning and understanding magic, then by taking the Magician's Oath listed above, you establish yourself as a magician along with making the promise to yourself and other magicians that you will uphold your promise and not reveal secrets of the trade either purposely or due to your inexperience with performing a trick.

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