How did you get into magic?

[Antonio Diavolo]

I guarantee this thread has come up before but I'm curious about how everyone here got into magic.

For me, I was 6 and went to this summer camp thing with a friend of mine. One day, a magician came and although I don't really remember what tricks he did, I was mesmerized. I had never seen anything like that before. What I do remember is that at the end, he gave out these small silver tubes with a black ring around it to all the kids and told us to take off the ring and hold the tube tightly in our hands. Then he counted to 3 and had us throw the tubes into the air, making wands appear all over the place. All of the sudden, I could do magic too. So we hired him for my 7th birthday later that year. I got tons of magic kits from my friends and family and I was hooked. I kinda got out of magic from like 4th to 7th grade but I got back into it when I was 14 when I found an unopened deck of Bicycles in my drawer. I learned a few basic tricks that were different from the tricks I constantly saw from people at school like the 21 card trick, the robbers, etc. It was like I was 6 again. I forgot what performing magic for people felt like.

I'm kinda out of it today so sorry if this post is incoherent but I'd love to hear your stories!

 

[obrienmagic]

Its too long to type... lol but if you are genuinely curious, my story was posted on KTLA5's spoken dreams podcast haha

 

[Al e Cat Dabra]

a rabbit came to me in a dream...

 

[Lord Magic]

a rabbit came to me in a dream...

A half-giant told me...
"Yer a wizard Harry."

And then I told him...










"Thanks, but I am not Harry"

 

[Lord Magic]

I guarantee this thread has come up before but I'm curious about how everyone here got into magic.

For me, I was 6 and went to this summer camp thing with a friend of mine. One day, a magician came and although I don't really remember what tricks he did, I was mesmerized. I had never seen anything like that before. What I do remember is that at the end, he gave out these small silver tubes with a black ring around it to all the kids and told us to take off the ring and hold the tube tightly in our hands. Then he counted to 3 and had us throw the tubes into the air, making wands appear all over the place. All of the sudden, I could do magic too. So we hired him for my 7th birthday later that year. I got tons of magic kits from my friends and family and I was hooked. I kinda got out of magic from like 4th to 7th grade but I got back into it when I was 14 when I found an unopened deck of Bicycles in my drawer. I learned a few basic tricks that were different from the tricks I constantly saw from people at school like the 21 card trick, the robbers, etc. It was like I was 6 again. I forgot what performing magic for people felt like.

I'm kinda out of it today so sorry if this post is incoherent but I'd love to hear your stories!

Saw a magic show. A typical one, with all the stage stuff. And am not saying that it was boring, but was everything you expect to see on a stage magic show.
Then I came home and I did not actually think about it at all. I mean, am sure no one ever got into magic by one day thinking "Okay! I think I should get into magic!"
It just...happened. I wanted to have some hobby I could call mine. Not just reading or singing or dancing or painting. And then I did this trick to my friends and they loved it.
For some time, my simple rubber pencil was all anyone could talk about. I was in third-grade at that time.

And I decided to not look back.
Guaranteed I have a long way to go, but am quite sure that I will never decide to look back.

Btw...a lot of questions like this have recently come up, haven't they? Not complaining tho!

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

Saw a magic show. A typical one, with all the stage stuff. And am not saying that it was boring, but was everything you expect to see on a stage magic show.
Then I came home and I did not actually think about it at all. I mean, am sure no one ever got into magic by one day thinking "Okay! I think I should get into magic!"
It just...happened. I wanted to have some hobby I could call mine. Not just reading or singing or dancing or painting. And then I did this trick to my friends and they loved it.
For some time, my simple rubber pencil was all anyone could talk about. I was in third-grade at that time.

And I decided to not look back.
Guaranteed I have a long way to go, but am quite sure that I will never decide to look back.

Btw...a lot of questions like this have recently come up, haven't they? Not complaining tho!

That's kinda similar to how I got back into magic when I was 14. I wanted to do something unique. And Magic was a hobby where the enjoyment is shared, and in some ways kinda comes from, other people.

 

[RealityOne]

It's all right here: https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/saturday-night-contest-falling-in-love.42814/#/post-442303

 

[Gabriel Z.]

It's all right here: https://www.theory11.com/forums/threads/saturday-night-contest-falling-in-love.42814/#/post-442303

I remember that Saturday Night Contest....Holy cow time flies, I don't even remember writing that ..

 

[coffeeparamedic]

My 11 year old son started getting into it and I thought it would be a cool thing to do together with him.
Started working with him through Royal road and some DVD's - but then he soon decided he isn't interested and doesn't want to practice so much, but it stuck with me.. so now I am still on the road and practicing and learning every day!

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

My 11 year old son started getting into it and I thought it would be a cool thing to do together with him.
Started working with him through Royal road and some DVD's - but then he soon decided he isn't interested and doesn't want to practice so much, but it stuck with me.. so now I am still on the road and practicing and learning every day!

That's interesting. Usually it's the other way around. A parent has a passing interest in magic and knows a few basic tricks and then the kid gets hooked. Thanks for the story!

 

[Weeping Angel]

I started doing annual shows for my family around the age of 5, but I hadn't done one for years, until this past year. When I found Theory11 and Ellusionist, that really got me back into magic and cardistry.

 

[RealityOne]

My 11 year old son started getting into it and I thought it would be a cool thing to do together with him.
Started working with him through Royal road and some DVD's - but then he soon decided he isn't interested and doesn't want to practice so much, but it stuck with me.. so now I am still on the road and practicing and learning every day!

That's interesting. Usually it's the other way around. A parent has a passing interest in magic and knows a few basic tricks and then the kid gets hooked. Thanks for the story!

I've tried multiple times to get my now 15 year old son interested... unsuccessfully.

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

I've tried multiple times to get my now 15 year old son interested... unsuccessfully.

It's not for everyone. The two things I always hear are:

"I don't have the dedication to do it"
"I'm not smart enough to do magic"

I really hate hearing the second one. Perpetuates that stereotype that magicians are cocky and think they're smarter than everyone. I've even heard people quote NYSM saying "well isn't the first rule of magic to always be the smartest guy in the room"?

 

[kennethcmerrill]

I've tried multiple times to get my now 15 year old son interested... unsuccessfully.

I recently attended a meeting of my local SAM assembly (first time), and I was both delighted and dismayed to see that a majority of the members were well into old age. It’s a wonderful opportunity to glean knowledge from people with a lot of experience. On the other hand, I wonder if these kinds of groups will disappear over the next 50 years.

There seems to be plenty of interest in magic among young people, but it doesn’t seem to translate into physical community activity, only an online presence. That’s unfortunate because magic has largely stayed alive because of face-to-face oral instruction, mentor to student.

I guess magic will always be around, but I think physical community is a big part of the depth of the craft, and I wonder if it is endangered by technological convenience.

 

[Josh Burch]

My first exposure to magic was at the age of 4 or 5 at a fourth of July fair. The guy was great to my memory. I think he did Alan Wakeling's Aces Front(in a walk around set), he made a goose apear then shoved it down a toilet, he did a trick based on a murder mystery, and a variation on the Sands Rope routine that every one does. He closed the show doing something with ping pong balls in a helicopter. He performed later that year at a cub Scout thing for my brother and the fourth of July fair the next year, so I saw his show 3 times in a year. I haven't been able to track him down, I'm sure wed hey along.

At that point I thought magic was cool but it was Lance Burton's special, at the age of 7, that hooked me. I became obsessed and we took weekly trips to the library for magic books. I got a big magic kit and began performming magic every week for show and tell at school. In first grade I created a super hero named magic man and performed my first show in second grade.

I kept it up and my dad surprised me with tickets to a David Copperfield show for my 12th birthday. It blew me away and rekindledo the flame.

At some point I looked up who created David's magic and came across Andre Cole, Michael Ammar and Jim Steinmeyer. I read Hiding the Elephant and fell in love with history and creating magic.

I've kept with it, and at 28, am as obsessed as I've ever been!

 

[Josh Burch]

I recently attended a meeting of my local SAM assembly (first time), and I was both delighted and dismayed to see that a majority of the members were well into old age. It’s a wonderful opportunity to glean knowledge from people with a lot of experience. On the other hand, I wonder if these kinds of groups will disappear over the next 50 years.

There seems to be plenty of interest in magic among young people, but it doesn’t seem to translate into physical community activity, only an online presence. That’s unfortunate because magic has largely stayed alive because of face-to-face oral instruction, mentor to student.

I guess magic will always be around, but I think physical community is a big part of the depth of the craft, and I wonder if it is endangered by technological convenience.

I attend one of the SAM's youngest clubs. Our average age is 35.

There's not a lot of young people who stick with it :/ I attend 4 different clubs and we see young guys but they don't stay. Lots of members were fans as kids and return to the craft.

 

[Mattxdfa]

Everyone has way better reasons on how they got into magic! I was always interested in magic as a spectator and one night last year I was bored and figured I would learn a few tricks from Youtube and it just kind of stuck! I used it for awhile as a good ice breaker with girls but now I am way more into it as a craft and learning the history and everything and anything I can about it.

 

[kennethcmerrill]

I attend one of the SAM's youngest clubs. Our average age is 35.

There's not a lot of young people who stick with it :/ I attend 4 different clubs and we see young guys but they don't stay. Lots of members were fans as kids and return to the craft.

35 -- that's awesome! The challenge with magic is you really need to spend ridiculous amounts of time getting good at it, and the results aren't immediately apparent. You have to go out and perform for someone to get the full effect (pun intended). I'm wondering if there's something our local assembly could do to attract a younger crowd. I imagine LA is one of the best places to find young magicians. Just have to get them to join.

 

[kennethcmerrill]

Back to the topic. I watched The Prestige at age 16, and I was so in love with the "behind the scenes" aspect of magic shown in that film; I blindly searched on Google "where to learn magic." Ellusionist.com was the first thing to come up, and it totally blew my mind. You mean all I have to do is drop some cash, and all the secrets will be mine? I almost couldn't believe it.

In fact when I think about it too long, I still kind of can't believe it.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

The short version: I got bored while the girl I was dating was in Mexico and learned two card tricks to show her when she got back.

Longer version - I never really liked magic much when I was younger. The 80's and 90's were dominated by grand illusion on TV and I just don't care for it much - I kept waiting for them to stop messing around with cards behind their hands, and boxes, and do some magic. Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants played on HBO in 1995 and that was the first time I was genuinely interested in a magic show. He was up close and personal, there were no big boxes or card manipulation (that I could see), and he has a weird kind of charm. My parents recorded that on VHS and I watched it every time I stumbled across it. To this day, it's still something I watch regularly.

Then Blaine blew up. Now, I wouldn't say I was inspired by him, really. I am not really into most of what he does performance-wise. But he was another magician showing me that magic doesn't need to have big boxes and stages, this was up close and personal with the audience and I liked that.

I basically forgot about magic for years after that. In 2007 I moved to Fresno, CA with this girl who was going for a doctorate in psychology. She did a semester in Mexico City and after the apartment was as clean as it was going to get I was pretty bored. She had previously expressed interest in seeing magic shows and such so I decided I would learn a couple magic tricks and show her when she got home. Since I was already inclined to fiddle with cards regularly (not flourishes, I just liked shuffling and cutting cards skillfully), I learned two card tricks. Turned out to be Chicago Opener and Jumping Gemini. I did the tricks for her and she loved them. So the bug bit me pretty strong there and I kept learning. I focused purely on card magic for at least a year, and it was still my main focus for another year and a half after that. Expanded my horizons over the years, and then eventually started focusing on hypnosis and suggestion.