I Do Real magic – Article by Dennis Regling
There is always one smart mouth little kid who loves to tell the magician, “You don’t do ‘real magic.'” To them, real magic is what you see on Bewitched, Harry Potter or Charmed. They believe real magic is doing the supernatural.
What they don’t understand is that what they believe to be real magic isn’t real at all. It is fantasy, trick photography and humbug. What they call “real magic,” does not exist.
Only God can do the supernatural. Only God could part the Red Sea, raise the dead and walk on water.
Unfortunately, the ones who claim we magicians do not perform real magic have a misunderstanding of what real magic is. When an audience member suspends their disbelief, they can experience real magic .
When I tie a rope into a loop and then clip the ends leaving an endless loop, free of knots, jaws drop. When I see an audience member’s jaw drop, or her the soft exclamation, “What the ….,” I know that person has just experienced real magic.
For a moment, they saw the impossible. Reality kicks back in pretty quickly, and in their rational mind, they know it was just a trick. But for one fleeting moment, there was magic.
About twelve years ago, I saw a flying saucer. My theology and reason tell me that extraterrestrial space ships do not exist, but for a few seconds one summer eve, I believed. I was driving home from church one Sunday evening. As I topped a hill, I saw a huge saucer-like object flying at what appeared to be only a few hundred feet above me. Narrow on the ends, high in the center, lots of lights and moving silently across the sky.
My mind raced. One part said, “I do not believe in these things,” another part was wondering where it would land and if I should run across the fields to find it. A flying saucer.
Then just a few seconds later, as it passed directly over me, I saw what it really was. The illusion was broken. But for a few seconds, I got to experience the thrill of seeing a real flying saucer. If I had passed out at that moment, no one would ever have convinced me it was not. Yet just as quickly, it passed.
When I put a single sponge ball in a lady’s hand and she opens her hand to see two balls, that is magic. Their expression, the wonder in their eyes tell me that for a brief moment, they have experienced real magic.
We know what we see on TV is not real. There are no sorcerors that can manipulate nature and do the impossible.
What I do is real magic. With the audience’s permission, I take them into a world where for just a moment, magic happens.