Healing of Magic

 Magic = Medicine ?

The adage "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" can in some cases be replaced by this:
   "A magic trick practiced a day keeps the doctor away"

Healing of Magic  is an outreach program headed by friend and professional magician Kevin Spencer. It involves the teaching & instruction of specific manipulative skills in magic to accomplish certain patient goals.  It has proven effective in occupational therapy in hospital settings by improving gross motor skills such as strengthening of muscles and fine motor skills such as eye-hand coordination.   It has also been proven successful in behavioral disorders as well by helping develop social skills and self-confidence.

Testimonials of it's success are well documented by Occupational Therapists from major hospitals.  Local magicians provide the instruction along with manuals for therapists to be able to teach & use specific magic tricks to the benefit of their patients.

Healing of Magic is an expanded program first started in 1982 by David Copperfield.  He titled the program "Project Magic" and I became a willing member of this in the late '80s.  (I must admit I haven't had the pleasure of using my skills in this manner due to my rural location).  My "hats off" to Kevin & Cindy Spencer who took it upon themselves to develop and expand this program to what it is today.  And my thanks to all the magicians out in the field who have helped so many patients recover.

Please visit the site and be amazed at this work:   www.magictherapy.com

...in the blink of an eye!

There is an old saying applied to magic:  "The hand is quicker than the eye"

Is it really?.....
An "old" saying for sure, because it applies to the art of magic over 75 years ago.  The magicians of yesteryear performed in social situations...most notably, drawing rooms of higher society.  The act of astonishment was a broad theatrical performance complete with exaggerated hand gestures and body movements. A magic show of it's day took on an air of "catch me if you can" or "see what I can do that you can't".  Performers had a certain arrogance....not unlike that portrayed by Houdini.

But there was a pioneer of modern day magic by the name.....

Inversions

The above is an example of an "inversion":  a phrase or name that reads the same upside down.  I "doodled" it myself late one night or early morning a year ago. I consider it my "logo" and try to use it in my materials whenever I can.

It was inspired by the artistic designs of Scott Kim on his website called "Inversions".  Click the link to this site and have a look around.   I find the artwork fascinating.  The site even shows an inversion of David Blaine (when displayed upside down it reads "mysterious").  

I was first made aware of this type of printing when I viewed a business card of a well-known magician, Dan Garrett.  He had Scott Kim design his inversion.

This also reminds me of the simpler "upside-down calculator" answers;  a familiar example being the number 07734.  When upside down the number resembles "hello".

Many letters or numbers can be read as other letters, upside down. There is an effect that I sometimes perform as a mental piece and attempt to reveal a message on a chalkboard by writing it upside down, appearing as meaningless hieroglyphics to the audience.  After an apparent failure, the board is turned over and the correct message is then read.