Permission to be ourselves – Part 1 by Caique Tostes
I was holding a ruler in my hand, and a friend of mine was blowing soap bubbles as I tried to
measure them.
It may seem like a dream, but it was just another moment of my inventive life as a magician.
After all, isn’t it through these weird situations that we create and find ways to manifest our
magic ideas?
Think about the last time you were weird! It was probably during a magic presentation or
practice session, right?
How normal is it to vomit playing cards? To walk with your pockets filled with sponge balls?
To put smartphones inside intact glass bottles?
By repetition, we get used to these kinds of ideas, but these are extremely weird and surreal
happenings for the real world.
Magic is a surreal art that breaks the day-to-day barriers of normality and expectations.
Just like the surrealists propose to transcend reality by putting their public in contact with
unexpected and uncommon images, the magician transcends reality by offering to their public ways to
experience the uncommon.
So, if the art of magic is so surreal and uncommon, why is the image of the magician becoming
increasingly more ordinary?
It may be fashion, it may be the status quo or the social pressure, but it also can be that we
magicians aren’t thinking much about our image and ourselves.
It seems to me that one of the great gifts that magic gives us (and there are a lot of them!) is the
permission to be different, to be weird!
Many times, I have had the experience of people looking weirdly at me because of my clothes,
manner and way of being. But shortly after discovering that I am a magician, the attitude of those
people changed dramatically. Suddenly everything about my personality becomes justified and
everything is fine. Interesting, isn’t it?
It happens because the archetypal image people have of the magician is of someone who possesses a
secret knowledge about the world. And since ancient times secret knowledge and capabilities have
been closely associated with the eccentric.
So there is some expectancy regarding the figure of the magician. He is special and so, it’s expected
of him to be special not only in the magical effects that he can produce but also in the way he acts,
dresses and connects with other people: the way he is being in the world!
Magic not only gives us the possibility of being different without being censored by society, but it
also expects and appreciates that.
The art of magic is crying out for different and special people because that’s what makes magic whole.
Maybe for it to be really magical, the magician should be special!
How magical would Gandalf, Dumbledore and Merlin be if they were out there wearing jeans, t shirts
and acting like mundane, stuffed people? That which is different awakens fantasy and fantasy
is what you need to create a magical experience for your participants.
But I am not saying that I think that in order for a magician to be great they need to have an eccentric
and weird persona (although it would be a really nice plus!). As a psychologist, I can say that we
(human beings) are all very unique and different by nature and that’s what makes us special.
Magic encourages us not to fear being true to ourselves. It helps us to discover what’s inside.
Magic is giving us this wonderful gift of singularity, of letting our special traits shine.
Becoming a magician means becoming more ourselves and less what society wants us to be,
being aware that we are unique, and not letting go of what we are from fear of not being accepted.
As we walk the path to our self, protected and inspired by becoming a magician, we are not only
awakening our participants’ fantasies for much stronger magic, we are also going for a real,
honest and truthful way of being that points to self-realization and artful performance.
Your friend in magic,
Caique Tostes
