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Writer's pictureJeb Brack

All The Secrets of Magic--Revealed!!

They say a magician NEVER reveals the secret.

Magicians love secrets, especially knowing them. We love thinking we're smarter than everyone else in the room. We giggle to ourselves about it, in fact. We love to smirk when people say, "How did you DO that?" We love it so much that the International Brotherhood of Magicians (yes, it's a real thing) wrote it into the Code of Ethics so we can say, "Sorry. Can't tell you. Union rules."

A MAGICIAN NEVER REVEALS THE SECRET.

It's the First Rule of Magic, but of course it is closely followed by the Second Rule of Magic:

UNLESS HE REALLY WANTS TO.

It's a tenuous kind of superiority, you see, because OF COURSE magicians reveal their secrets all the time, for all kinds of reasons. To show off for each other. To get a TV special. To round out their book. To delight audiences. To get money. Usually to get money. Most magicians don't get paid much, so if you really want to know how a trick is done, offer cash.

The truth is, anyone can do magic tricks if they know the secret. The same is true for most artistic endeavors: given enough practice, anyone can draw, or write a story, or play an instrument. Every art has its "secrets"--which pencil to use on which paper, which rules of grammar you can bend for effect, how to get an unusual sound from your saxophone. Some secrets are easier to learn and use than others. Some even have whole college majors devoted to them.

Does that mean that knowing those secrets makes you a magician? No, any more than knowing how to diagram a sentence makes you a novelist, or playing a scale makes you a virtuoso musician.

THIS IS THE SECRET TO ALL MAGIC:

What makes you a magician (or an artist, writer, or musician or whatever) is the SOUL. You must express yourself in a way that affects other people, that changes what they feel or think, even if it's only for a short time. Make them laugh, make them amazed, make them cry or nod their head. The best artists have that impact long after the work is done, but it's worthwhile even in small quantities. That's why it doesn't matter if the magician reveals the secret: the imact of the performance should go beyond the mere trick.

Do with this knowledge what you will.

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