4 For thousands of years human beings have tried to use rituals and symbols to influence events and change situations for their benefit These practices eventually came to be known as magic People also practiced another form of magic called conjuring Known today as stage street or practical magic this kind of magic uses clever tricks to create the illusion of impossible feats EARLY DAYS OF MAGIC The earliest known magic trick was performed in Ancient Egypt almost five thousand years ago That illusion is known today as the cups and balls trick It was still being performed in Rome about three thousand years later During the Middle Ages the first books showing how to perform various illusions were published At the same time magic was often used by gamblers to gain an advantage Other people used it as a way to convince people that they possessed great and mysterious powers The Middle Ages was a time when some people such as circus performers began using illusions to entertain audiences MAGIC THROUGH TIME Abracadabra is a magic word often used in stage magic tricks Many years ago people believed the word had healing powers How To Use This Book The magic tricks in this book are meant to inspire you to get into magic to keep learning and to create your own magic tricks You can follow the steps provided or use your imagination to modify the tricks using different props and ideas MAGIC THROUGH TIME
OCCULT AND WITCHCRAFT The study of paranormal abilities and practices or things that cannot be explained by science is known as occultism Witchcraft is the practice of performing spells and rituals Because early illusionists seemed to perform impossible feats such as causing objects to vanish many of them were associated with both witchcraft and occultism Performers also often claimed to possess magical powers which helped to confirm these beliefs In 1584 an Englishman named Reginald Scot published a book titled The Discoverie Of Witchcraft It included a section that showed that many feats of witchcraft were simply tricks performed by people attempting to fool the audience His book was one of the earliest publications that explained how magic was performed However witchcraft and magic remained controversial and many copies of his book were burned During the Middle Ages witchcraft was illegal in many countries The punishment was death Thousands of people accused of witchcraft were executed many of them by being burned at the stake CHUNG LING SOO Much of magic is based on deception and illusion but some magicians go even further than you might imagine when tricking their audience Take the story of Chung Ling Soo Chung Ling Soo was a popular magician in the early 1900s He claimed to be half Chinese and to have been raised by a Chinese magician In reality he was a white American named William E Robinson who had copied much of his act from the actual Chinese magician named Ching Ling Foo However his deception was so convincing that most of the public didn’t find out his true identity until after his death Chung Ling Soo died in 1918 while performing a faulty bullet catch trick 5
