Magic is from the Sol

Master magician Rocco Silano once reverberantly told me, during the days of my magician adolescence, that magic comes from the Soul. He said the word ‘soul’ with so much emphasis; as if letting the word echo into the great abyss of what we cannot see, into the mysteries of things that stretch onto the distant stars of infinity.

This was his response when I asked him what the most important thing his great teacher, the grandmaster magician Slydini, had taught him. So I aspired to carry that principle or ideal with me ever since. I’ve hung giant scroll banners of it along the walls of my metaphoric dojo. I’ve let the calligraphy ink of it seep into my hands and fingertips.

And then there’s the execution of this. How does one use magic to express the soul, out from the shadows of our being into something that can be seen, felt, and remembered? How does one vanish all the applause static of conventional 'WTF', 'LOL', or 'NFW' reactions to reveal that deep impact painted on the faces of an audience? Bruce Lee mentioned to express oneself honestly without lie was near impossible.

Enter magic: everything is possible. What if our souls were just that: orbs of this magic we chase, incandescent in the color of our auras; reservoirs like surfaces of ponds, rippling with every step and bearing the reflection of those we meet.

I aim for this reaction: for people to see that reflection; that soular light amid the commercial neon of the city skyline. I don’t know how, but magic should guide my practice journey toward this north star ideal, to perhaps see it for myself.

So how can lost cards and vanished coins, and rings that link or ropes that tie themselves, be pathways to the soul, from the soul, and of the soul? To express one’s being through stories is one-sided. With paintings, limited to perspective. Musicians in their solos strike close chords. A dancer's moves tread at the boarders.

How does the magician, with all his comedy and misdirection, stumble into that fray of soular expression? If I vanish a coin, can I incept people to let go of material things? If I find a lost signed card, can I help someone find themselves? Can I unite lovers across miles of ocean with a transposition of two rings? If I do a show on the other side of the world, can I find my soul-mate? (Done and Yes!)

The goal of soul stretches to the heavens. I guess, this is why I can't stop practicing magic. How can that distance be leaped? With magic, there are loop-holes. We are weightless!