Mentorship

I had the good fortune of spending many years with a friend whose influence "mentored" me in a way that only now, in retrospect, I truly appreciate. This experience directed me in ways that formed much of how I think about magic and its presentation.

Back in the day, I remember trying to sort through the printed instructions that came with the tricks and how they seemed all too brief in their explanations. Then reading magic books, which were better, but without much personality like reading "stereo instructions." Plus, it all often seemed equally impossible to tackle. I found, of course, that just sticking with it was the ingredient that made the difference. As my parents would say, "you just need a bit of stick-to-it-ness." Since I loved magic so much, I stuck with it.

In times gone by, becoming a magician was through an apprenticeship. You became the helper or assistant of some kind in the employ of a performing magician; this is how you really learned the craft of magic. The "secrets" of magic are closely guarded and only learned through this employment. Secrets of each magician have always been closely guarded because it is the "stock in trade." Reputations were built upon the mysteries that magicians became famous for doing. There are so many examples of this in the literature of historical magic.

Continued…

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