Daniel Levantino, a prolific member of the Magic.About.com forum, recently posted a thought-provoking and insightful ten commandments for magic. I provide the bare list here but you can read the entire entry that includes an introduction and a link to a video example.
Number 1: Thou shalt have no other gods before me - the people you are entertaining.
Number 2: Thou shalt not make craven images of me - do not put me (the audience) down for I give you life (in feeding your ego and your bank account).
Number 3: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord God (AKA the audience) in vain - for I will smite you dead if you do so - and thou shalt not get work or get paid.
Number 4: Remember and honour the Sabbath Day - do not overwork thyself, rest when you need to, and stay close to your family and friends.
Number 5: Honour thy father and MOTHER - Respect Houdin and Houdini, et al, but also respect the WOMEN who enter our noble profession - they bringeth much.
Number 6: Thou shalt not murder - no jokes - no digressions - no distractions - just believable and engrossing magic that delights, enthralls, and mystifies.
Number 7: Thou shalt not commit adultery - never show other magicians your effects, never repeat an effect, and never EVER reveal a secret.
Number 8: Thou shalt not steal - do not steal the effects or the acts of others - watch and learn from them - and then push the envelope and create your own effects.
Number 9: Do not bear false witness against your neighbour - do not claim an effect that isn't your's as your own - be JUST - always.
Number 10: Though shalt not covet your neighbours wife or possessions - do not get jealous of others or steal their thunder - make your own success. 'The wonderful journey that you take your audience on - takes you on YOUR wonderful journey.'
Click here to read the entire entry and thread.
More Reading:
The Five Biggest Mistakes Made by Beginning Magicians
Why Are Beginning Magicians So Over-Confident?
The Magic Commandments
Comments
Wayne – I am deeply deeply moved. Thank you very much indeed.
Regards and very best wishes
Daniel
OMG – you have a young genius in your midst that seems to be unappreciated for the many gifts he brings to this little kinship.
Having studied physics, I am currently reading Ancient History, which includes access to and study of the Sumarian Cuneiform Scripts from the middle Uruk period around the 30th Century BC., and all that Mr Levitino describes relating to the mystic arts – including the transformation of water from a liquid to a solid and back again merely by uttering (from what I can gather) high pitched frequencies, is recorded therein.
Kelvin was deeply gripped with these early “noetic sciences” and he believed (and proved) that all matter “vibrates” and these vibrations reveal themselves as electromagnetic waves in the visible spectrum – each to its own colour according to its temperature.
He affirmed that all matter, with one exception, expands when it is heated, and contracts when it is cooled. The exception to the “rule” is WATER, which expands when it is heated, and ALSO expands as it solidifies when it is cooled.
Kelvin devised his “absolute” temperature scale (the ‘K’ scale) and formulated the Laws of Thermodynamics, which loosely state that work is heat and heat is work, and heat cannot of itself pass from one body to a hotter body.
Put simply, the expansion of a body is due to excitement of the molecules as they are heated. The hotter a body gets, the quicker the molecules move apart from each other. The increased frequency creates more “bouncing” energy which causes the molecules to bounce further apart, causing the object to increase in physical size. These “vibrations” are what causes energy transfer to take place and the sensations we call “hot” or “cold” are merely faster or slower frequencies impacting our skin.
Now this is where it gets interesting. Thermodynamic is derived from two ANCIENT GREEK words: thermos, meaning hot, and dinamiks, meaning work. Using Greek words to describe the thermodynamic phenomenon would suggest that Kelvin had access to the ancient Mycenaean Greek texts from around the late fifteenth century BC where all of this is described, and which Kelvin unravelled and made sense of.
As you are interested in Ancient History, if you would like to read more on the subject Mr Opie then may I refer you to “The Decipherment of Linear B” by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick. The earlier “Linear A” script, written in the Minoan language is still undeciphered. This is a hot topic of discussion for CIPEM.
Mr Levitino asserts that all matter is interconnected. This is the precept behind modern “entanglement theory”. “Entanglement” is the core of primeval beliefs that everything is interconnected to everything else in some mystical way (an echo being the easiest phenomenon to prove this) and that mankind has a spiritual quest to seek at-one-ment with the universe.
Sadly, maybe because of the way the word is spelt, the less learned amongst us tend to pronounce the desire as “a-tone-ment” and therefore do not realise it refers to something we “seek”, and not some divine punishment that is inflicted upon us because of our misdeeds. The “God never pays debts back in money” allegory.
Heisenberg hinted at “mind over matter” many decades ago in his “uncertainty principle”, and it is only now being recognised as the missing link between modern science and ancient mysticism. Much of the theory of Heisenberg and Schrödinger is described in the sacred Hindi Vendantic Scriptures “The Upanishads”.
Going further, Mr Levitino mentions a ten-dimensional cosmological model. He is referring to cutting edge science called “superstring theory” which confirms Kelvin’s “vibrating world” concept. The scriptures for this can be found in the mediaeval Aramaic dating back many centuries, and finally deciphered in the thirteenth century.
Can Mr Levitino cause water to freeze as he utters words? I believe him!
Hello everyone
My name is Sister Wendy, I teach theology at my local church, and I use playing card magic to illustrate Biblical concepts such as the lessons on racism and brotherly love taught in the parable of “The good Samaritan” (Jews and Samaritans despise each other). More on my magic in a mo….
What I see happening here pains me deeply. Here is a young boy who has single-handedly completely revitalised this site and its philosophies by bringing forth freshness and originality, and all I see in response to his deep insights are the smarmy tactics of bully-boys.
One of the worst and sickest offenders is a guy called “Opie “who in my mind should be labelled “Dopey” (hereinafter called “Mr D”) and either “sent to Coventry” (Google it) or, like Moses, banished altogether.
In response to a tawdry “magic script” on entomology that a child of seven could write better, and which did not contain any value whatsoever, put up by “Mr D” to taunt Mr Levantino, Mr Levantino replied with a fully themed script of some note that made ME sit up and take notice, and no doubt every other person who has had the good fortune to view it. He even explained exactly how it was done but cleverly hid his solution so that only those who deserve it can obtain it.
“Mr D” then posted a link to a website that insulted the genre of magic Mr Levantino, Bob Cassidy, Max Maven, Ted Annemann, Banachek, and Derren Brown perform. All of whom are leaders in their field.
Totally unthwarted by the cheap rebuttals, Mr Levantino continued to offer sound advice, including: how to make a low-cost “floating lady” using a body harness (again insulted by “Mr D”), how to use a fridge magnet and two yoghurt pots nested inside of each other to make the most diabolical chop-cup EVER, what to buy to improve your skills, how to quickly examine the entire art without spending a fortune (we have all fallen prey to that) to find your personal niche, and the pitfalls to avoid if you are just starting out.
Along the way, peppered with superb demonstrations from masters all over the globe, in true “QI” style, Mr Levantino has enlightened us all on many urban myths we assumed otherwise, which includes the real origins of ESP symbols and the ancient rationale behind psychometric tests, and how to apply your mind to create effects using any technology you care to name. All of course attacked by the dull-witted “Mr D” and any other dim sheep he could rope into the discussion.
In THIS fabulous thread Mr Levantino outlines his ethical philosophies, treats us all to a discourse on “enlightenment”, and demonstrates the ancient and amazing power of “Word Association” with a real-life and fully explained example on a real person. And yes Kenn, some of those same words that I use reflected ME right down to a tee – AWESOME.
And what did “Mr D” have to say? He claimed he had studied “Ancient History” and referred to Scot’s vile text from 1584 – hardly “ancient” “Mr D”. He then offered Mr Levantino his “references” as links (most of which do not work), confirming the fact that he had never studied “Ancient History” at all. “Mr D” even referred to 1584 as occurring in the fourteenth century, 1584 was in the SIXTEENTH century “Mr D” – only FIVE centuries ago – and has no correlation whatsoever to the material Mr Levantino refers to from FIFTY centuries ago.
Where Mr Levantino should have prompted discussion he was proffered taunts and dull-witted rebuttals, and so in exasperation at all of the evil derision he has received he has either left the discussion (as he did on the “Do as I do” thread), or possibly left the fold entirely (we are not QUITE sure. He is a modern magician so who knows?), leaving “Mr D” and others TALKING TO THEMSELVES (lol ha ha ha).
His parting words were “Casting pearls before swine”. This is MY territory. Pearls are “pearls of wisdom”, referred to in the “Book of Proverbs” (chapter 11 verse 22) and “pigs” are “bigots”. The expression comes from the concluding part of Jesus “Sermon on the mount” (see Matthew Chapter 7 of The New Testament). It is deeply allegorical on far too many levels to go into here, but the general expression implies that “wisdom should not be put in front of people who do not appreciate its value”, which is colloquially expressed as “pig-headedness”. Was he calling “Mr D” a pig? The expression is deeply allegorical.
At the start of my comment I explained that I use playing card magic to illustrate Biblical concepts at my local church. My reference has always been “The Royal Road to Card Magic”. This is a classic book, one I have had for a long time, and one I would readily recommend for beginners to get started in the art and craft of card manipulation.
Accepting that my routines were tired and although highly polished, lacked lustre, and being enthralled with what this young man had to say, I decided to give one of the recommendations he gave Kenn a try, and duly purchased Rene Levand Vol 1. What I learned in under an hour has blown apart ALL I have learnt in the last TWENTY TWO YEARS. This is on another level entirely and watching the artistry of a man with one arm made me burst into tears. Watching this same person show little ME the techniques and methods to perform his incredible feats made me weep even more. There is SO much in here, everything from strong believable and engrossing stories about God, about life, about poetry, to routining that mesmerises and engages, to utterly STUNNING magic that puts all of my other routines where they belong – in the dark ages.
Thank you Daniel and God bless you and keep you safe.
Hi
My name is Nick and I enjoy adventure sports and performing mentalism.
Having just read the thread, clearly here is a man who believes in himself and who definately does NOT pull punches. He also REALLY knows what he is talking about.
I was totally BLOWN AWAY with his “Word Association”, the words he selected from the correspondents comments and explained also had ME pegged and I am now researching the technique so I can incorporate it into my paranormal nights as it makes some of the stuff I do look lame in comparison.
He talks about turning water into ice just by talking to it. I BELIEVE him! Why? Reading what Danny has to say has awakened something inside of me and reminded me of some strange marvels that have happened to me.
I have seen entire shoals of fish SIMULTANEOUSLY change direction when I was diving in the Galapagos. I have seen flocks of a 1000+ starling’s do exactly the same when they were preparing to roost, so something is going on we don’t understand. But one of the biggest paranormal events I have ever experienced was done by a guy in Austria. We were in the Alps doing a bit of skiing and one night, over a little gluvine, we got talking about paranormal activities. He said he could cause the earth to move just by the sound of his voice.
I challenged him to prove it and the next day we went off to somewhere off the beaten track and he began to shout “shnell” over and over in a loud freaky high-pitched voice. Suddenly, without any warning, a snow avalanche started. The earth definitely moved all right, I have never been so scared in my entire life.
The guy explained it has something to with resonant vibrations, which was over my head (and so was the snow) and I believe landslides can be started in a similar way. He told me the technique can also be used to summon rain in deserts, but I have never seen that.
You are AWESOME man and you ROCK.