Conjuration

File:White indian conjurer.jpg

Native American "conjurer" in a 1590 engraving

The verb conjure is used to refer to the use of magic or spells to affect or bring something into being. Conjuring can also refer to the invocation of a spirit or devil, as well as the less sinister use of the term to refer to magic done by entertainers. As a noun, "conjure" generally refers to an act of folk magic performed by practicioners of hoodoo in the southern United States.

Conjuring as Ritual

Conjuring spirits has been part of the spiritual side of many cultures throughout history, including Native American cultures like the Cherokee, as well as cultures in medieval Europe, shamanism in Asia, and West African influenced hoodoo. The conjuring of spirits has also been a part of many Wiccan practices and rituals.

Methods of Conjuring

Spirits can be conjured to aid and benefit, as well as harm an enemy. Spirits were often conjured to insure long life, success in love, the destruction of an enemy. The conjuring of spirits is often associated with a certain amount of ritual, no matter what the culture. Charms have often been used to summon spirits, as well as magic or sacred symbols marked on the floor/ground, an altar, or embroidered on the clothing of the conjurer. Amulets and protective purification rituals to cleanse the body, mind, and soul are often used to ward off any potential harm that could befall the conjurer. Some rituals consider the hour of the day or night and the astrological configuration of the zodiac important to the success of a ritual. Incense and specific herbs may be used, often used in conjunction with candlelight to create a certain atmosphere.

In addition to the conjuring of spirits, the conjuring of the dead has also been practiced. Necromancy, or the act of conjuring the dead for divination, dates back to ancient times. In the Middle Ages, necromancy was widely practiced by magicians, sorcerers, and witches, until it was condemned by the Catholic Church. Necromancy is not currently practiced in New-pagan Witchcraft, but is still a part of Voodoo. Many consider necromancy to be a dark and repugnant practice.

Good and Evil

Many Christian religions view conjuration, as well as other forms of magic as an inherently evil practice, explicitly forbidden in the Old Testament. In societies that do not view magic as inherently evil, there exist those who use conjuring and other forms of magic for selfish and evil purposes. Known as black magicians, such individuals are not generally the rule, and have opposition amongst more tradition magicians.

Hoodoo

Not to be confused with the Voodoo religion, hoodoo is the practice of folk magic, primarily by African-Americans in the southern states. Originating in the 19th century or before, hoodoo incorporates African folkloric practices/beliefs with Native American botanical knowledges and European folklore. Hoodoo is also known as "conjuration," "conjure," "witchcraft," "rootwork," and "tricking." Practitioners of hoodoo may be known as "conjure men/women." Contrary to what such a term implies, hoodoo practitioners use neither invocatory magic or sleight of hand illusions; the only connection of hoodoo to true conjuring is the use of the word.

Conjuring as Entertainment: the Illusionist

Magic, including the arts of prestidigitation and conjuring, is the art of entertaining an audience by performing illusions that baffle and amaze. The practitioners of this art of mystery may be called magicians, conjurers, illusionists or prestidigitators. Artists in other media such as theatre, cinema, dance and the visual arts increasingly work using similar means but regard their magical techniques as of secondary importance to the goal of creating a complex cultural performance. As entertainment, conjurers use psychological deceptions and manipulative methods to perform feats that are apparently in violation of natural law. Sleight of hand and complicated secret mechanical apparatus help to convince witnesses that they have just seen the conjurer perform the impossible. This type of conjuring existed as early as 2700 B.C.E., where the Ancient Egyptian magician Dedi performed a trick where he decapitated two birds and an ox, then restored their heads. Other Egyptian magicians were known for their skill at slight of hand tricks involving cups and balls.

Famous Illusionists

• Chung Ling Soo:

Born in 1861, William Robinson stole the persona of Chung Ling Soo, and became known as "the marvelous Chinese conjurer", one of the most famous magicians in England. The real Chung Ling Soo, arriving in England years later, was accused of being a fake. Unable to smoothly deliver the vocal patter during an act, Robinson had found success with an act he performed in silence, claiming not to speak English. In 1918, he met his demise during a trick where he caught two bullets in his teeth; something went wrong, and a real bullet was fired at him, piercing his lung.

• Harry Houdini:

Born in 1874, Houdini is perhaps best known for his abilities as an escape artist. He performed seemingly miraculous escapes from ropes, handcuffs, and straightjackets, and was famous throughout the world for feats like escaping from a locked, submerged box in which he was shackled. Later in his life, Houdini campaigned vehemently against frauds perpetrated by Spiritualist mediums. He died in 1926 from peritonitis after being unprepared for a punch in the stomach taken as part of his act.

• Harry Blackstone

Born in 1885, Harry Blackstone was one of the most prominent illusionists of the twentieth century. He performed large scale effects, charming audiences with disappearing horses, levitation, and buzz sawed assistants, as well as smaller scale tricks like floating light bulbs and dancing handkerchiefs. His legacy was continued by his son, Harry Blackstone Jr., who worked with his father, and later became a famous magician in his own right.

Categories of Illusions

Although there is much discussion among magicians as to how a given effect is to be categorized, and in fact, disagreements as to what categories actually exist - for instance, some magicians consider "penetrations" to be a separate category, others consider penetrations a form of restoration or teleportation - it is generally agreed that there are very few different types of illusions. Perhaps because it is considered a magic number, it has often been said that there are only seven types of illusion:

• Production:

The magician pulls a rabbit from an empty hat; a fan of cards from 'thin air'; a shower of coins from an empty bucket; or appears in a puff of smoke on an empty stage; all of these effects are productions, where the magician produces "something from nothing."

• Vanish:

The magician snaps his fingers and a coin disappears; places a dove in a cage, claps his hands and the bird vanishes, including the cage, stuffs a silk into his fist and opens his hands revealing nothing, or waves a magic wand and the Statue of Liberty magically "goes away". A vanish, being the reverse of a production, may use a similar technique, in reverse.

• Transformation

The illusionist pulls a red handkerchief through his fist twice, which suddenly turns blue on the third pass. A spectator is shown a penny to hold in a closed fist. After squeezing it tightly, it miraculously becomes a dime in the spectator's hand. A magician requests a volunteer to "pick a card, any card" from a deck. With a flourish the magician shows the card to the volunteer and asks "is this your card?" It is not the right card, but the magician tells the volunteer, "here, hold it for a second," handing them the card and then picking card after card from the deck, none of which is the card the volunteer picked. The magician asks, "will you look at that first card again?", whereupon the volunteer finds the card in their hand to have magically become their card.

• Restoration

A rope is cut into two pieces, the two pieces are tied together, and the knot mysteriously vanishes, leaving one unbroken piece of rope. A newspaper is torn to bits. The magician rubs the pieces together and the newspaper becomes whole. A woman is sawn into two separate parts and then magically rejoined. A card is torn in fourths and then restored piece by piece to a normal state. Restorations put something back into the state it once was.

• Teleportation

A teleportation transfers an object from one place to another. A coin is vanished, then later found inside a tightly bound bag, which is inside a box that is tied shut, inside another box, which is in a locked box - all of which were on the other side of the stage. The magician locks his assistant in a cage, then locks himself in another. Both cages are uncovered and the pair have magically exchanged places, creating a transposition: a simultaneous, double teleportation.

• Levitation

The magician "puts his assistant into a trance" and then floats him or her up and into the air, passing a ring around his or her body as proof that there are 'no wires' supporting them. A close-up artist wads up your dollar bill and then floats it in the air. A playing card hovers over a deck of cards. A penny on an open palm rises onto its edge on command. A scarf dances in a sealed bottle. Levitations are illusions where the conjurer "magically" raises something into the air.

• Penetration

One solid object passes through another, as in such old standbys as "the Linking Rings" (a magical effect the magician creates by seemingly passing solid steel rings through one another) and "Cups and Balls" (in which the balls appear to pass through the bottom of an inverted cup to the table below).

Learning magic

The teaching of performance magic was once a secretive art. The success of an act is dependent on maintaining illusion, and professional magicians have often been unwilling to share knowledge with anyone outside the profession to prevent their secrets from becoming known. This made it difficult for an interested apprentice to learn magic beyond the basics. Some organizations of magicians have had strict rules against members discussing magic secrets with anyone but established magicians.

From the 1584 publication of Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft until the end of the 19th century, only a few books had helped budding magicians to learn the craft. Books remain useful today, but for the modern student, a DVD or video recording surpasses a book, letting the apprentice mimic the master, following along as the magician dissects presentation and performance of latter-day versions of ancient artistry. Magic clubs, workshops, and organizations like the International Brotherhood of Magicians, which publishes a monthly journal, The Linking Ring, help magicians come together and discuss their trade. Membership in such organizations often requires a solemn commitment to the "Magician's Oath", where magicians must promise never to reveal the secrets of any illusions to non-magicians, as well as only performing practiced illusions.

Types of magic performance

There are many types of magic performances. Some magicians work "close-up" magic, using playing cards or coins, performed close to the audience. This type of magic is often performed for smaller audiences, at dinner parties or on the street. Others perform on a stage for larger audiences, or at night clubs and comedy clubs for medium-sized audiences. Performers like David Copperfield perform in large auditoriums, often creating large-scale effects using elaborate props. In one famous example of such "stage magic", Copperfield appeared to make the Statue of Liberty vanish in front of both a live and television audience.

Some magicians are well-versed in mentalism, the apparent ability to read thoughts, predict events, or other abilities generally associated with clairvoyance. Magic has also been tailored to specific audiences: children's magic is common entertainment for children's parties, and corporate magic helps liven up business presentations and product launches.

Misuse of magic

In modern conjuring, it is not considered fully honest to give a performance which claims to be anything other than a clever and skillful deception. Some performers have capitalized on popular belief in ESP and other paranormal phenomena as a way of presenting magical effects; Uri Geller, for example, claimed to be able to bend spoons through paranormal means. There are also, however, dishonest performers who use the techniques of conjuring for fraudulent goals. Cheating at card games is an obvious example, and is no more than a form of theft. During the height of the vogue for spiritualism and the wave of popularity for séances in the late 19th century, many fraudulent mediums used conjuring methods to perform illusions at séances designed to convince those present of actual supernatural events, for financial gain. The great escapologist and illusionist Harry Houdini devoted much of his time to exposing fraudulent mediums. Spiritualists and mediums at work today tend to shy away from effects such as making knocking sounds in darkened rooms, and objects apparently moving without being touched, as these were devices often used in the past by fraudulent practitioners.

Many con artists use simple magician's effects to defraud the innocent. The three card ruse known as "Find the Lady" or "Three-card Monte," is an old favorite of street hustlers and con men who sucker the victim into betting on what seems like an easy and obvious "game." Another example is the shell game, in which a pea is hidden under one of three walnut shells subsequently shuffled around the table (or sidewalk) so slowly as to make the pea's apparently position only seemingly obvious to the victim. Although these are well known as frauds, some people are willing to lose money on them just for the entertainment value. There are other street hustles which use conjuring techniques and methods such as misdirection to commit theft.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Dunninger, Joseph. 1962. 'The Complete Encyclopedia of Magic' Spring Books.
• Mangan, Michael. 2007. 'Performing Dark Arts: A Cultural History of Conjuring' Intellect Ltd. ISBN 1841501492
• Milbourne, Christopher. 1962 'Panorama of Magic' Dover Pubns. ISBN 0486207749
• Randi, James. 1992. 'Conjuring: A Definitive History' St Martins Press. ISBN 0312086342

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