Archive

This page features an online archive of previously published articles and manuscripts.

These are complete texts with the exception of Brief Analysis and Simulation.  The former was part of a manuscript by Roger Crosthwaite called The Saga of the Twenty-One Card Trick, while the latter was the first chapter of a booklet featuring a dozen or so effects.

To view articles, click on book titles below to open in a new window, or copy & paste URLs into your browser and click ‘Enter’.

 

1.  ALL HANDS ON DECK!

All Hands On Deck! contains twelve effects, ideas, sleights, and routines for the cardman. I haven’t described any of the standard moves like the HaLo Cut, Ascanio Spread, or Tilt because most of the people who will buy this sort of book will probably know these sleights and techniques. However, I have made references to some of the lesser-known moves for those who may be unfamiliar with them.
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All of the tricks and routines in this book were developed by myself over the last few years, and credit has been given where I was inspired by someone else’s effect or idea. Having said that, the reader will probably notice the lack of credits regarding the effects in this book.
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3. TRUE MAGIC VIA OBJECTIVITY

Four main aspects of magic are: inventing, selecting, practising and performing. Since magic is a form of entertainment, and the object or purpose of entertainment is to bring pleasure to the people we are performing for, then being a true – i.e., objective, or ‘object-fulfilling’ – magician means inventing, selecting, practising and performing for the end result of entertaining the audience. If we invent, select, practise or perform for subjective reasons, then we are not fulfilling the object or purpose of magic.
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http://www.angelfire.com/blog/card-magic/tmvo.html

 

4. A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE TWENTY-ONE CARD TRICK AND RELATED EFFECTS

The Twenty-One Card Trick is one of several classical effects which rely upon what might be termed a grid-system method. In other words they involve locating the position of a selected card or cards in more or less the same way as locating a place on a map through the use of grid references. However, to give the impression of magic or mind-reading the system is, in each trick, disguised in some way.
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http://www.angelfire.com/blog/card-magic/21ct.html

 

5. THE SIMULATION OF MIRACLES [PART ONE]

For the magician engrossed in the worlds of technique, secrets, the latest book, convention, or lecture, not to mention performing, it is all too easy to overlook certain fundamental issues regarding the nature of magic itself, and in so doing miss the essential point of the art which lies so close, yet so far, from his or her heart.
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http://www.angelfire.com/blog/card-magic/tsom.html