The Three Rules of Life

“Transform Your Magic and Your Life!”

That is our motto here at the Magic & Mystery School. These are words we live by! We know that we are helping our students make positive changes in the way their magic is performed.

I feel that people often need a bit of an “encouraging push” to make positive and lasting changes in their lives. Even I need a push now and then to get me moving again.

We all tend to resist or put off the things we want or need to change the most!  Kate Corrine Van Vliet has a 10 step process for creating lasting change in your life. Kate offers the following:

The Ten Steps of Change

1. Assess how things are now.

What do you see in yourself? What are you doing? How do you operate in a given situation? What consequences (good and bad) are you experiencing because of what you see yourself doing?

2. Accept yourself as you are.

Today, right now in your life, this is who and how you are. Decide that you love yourself no matter what.

3. Take responsibility.

Be honest with yourself and take responsibility for all that you are doing and not doing (good and bad), and the effects your actions have on others and yourself (good and bad).

4. Identify what you want to change.

What do you want to change about yourself? What actions or behaviors are you demonstrating that are not helping you? What would be a better option for you in each identified situation? What do you want to do differently?

5. Commit to making that change.

Make the decision to do the work and to make the change(s) you’ve listed. Form an agreement with yourself in whatever way is helpful to you (written or otherwise) so that you know you will do what you say you want to do.

6. Educate yourself.

Seek internal and external resources to gather information on how you can make the change(s) that you just committed to making. Be honest about your past so that your can use your own set of experiences to break patterns that no longer serve you.

7. Set goals.

Make the change process tangible and measurable, to an extent. What can you do each day to get yourself closer to who you want to be? Write down, from little to big, the goals you will achieve.

8. Take action towards your goals.

Every day, honor your commitment. Act with an awareness of the changes you are making. Do things and engage in behaviors that are congruent with your goals.

9. Have compassion for yourself.

It is said that it takes 30 days to change a habit, so be patient and kind to yourself during this journey. Express your gratitude to yourself for doing the work. Love yourself each day so that you believe you are worthy of the change(s).

10. Take time to reflect.

Take the time to assess your progress. Love and praise yourself for each bit of change you are making. Revise your goals or any other part of this protocol as you deem necessary. Learn from what you’re doing, or not doing. Do the best you can.

You can read the complete article here:

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/10-steps-to-create-lasting-change-in-your-life/

Whenever I need a push I have Eugene, Larry, Abigail, Tobias, and our faculty to get me going again. They are my support team.  Who is YOURS?

Perhaps our team can help YOU get going in the right direction… Our classes and our in-person and online coaching sessions offer you a place to come and get the focus and support you might need to take the next step.

http://www.magicalwisdom.com/about/consulting

The Mask and the Mirror

Many years ago I wrote a theater piece about creating a mask that I get stuck in…. Many people who saw this piece said they could really identify with it.  They said the piece gave them hope that if they take a “good look at themselves in the mirror,” then that change is possible.

Magic That Tells YOUR Story! 

I am willing to ask for help… I remain teachable and open to learning new techniques and lessons.

I know that I have teachers that can help me make better choices… and take BIGGER risks!

In the past I’ve gotten expert direction from Bob Fitch. He is one of the top magic directors in the world, and now he can help YOU. We are hosting a workshop with Bob (right after Magic & Meaning this fall) where you will learn the secrets to making better and more theatrical magic.

In the past, magicians have not had many resources available to learn theatre and movement skills. These intensive, structured multi-day workshops have been tailored to magicians, and are intended to help you obtain basic theater tools and self-directing skills to take away and be able to apply to your work. The multi-day workshop format allows time to make real, hopefully lasting, change. For more info:

http://www.magicalwisdom.com/events#504

The Rainmaker

This theatrical magic story is a piece that Bob Fitch directed many years ago.

If you would like to learn The Rainmaker and other masterpiece routines, I have a new 3-day class that teaches my greatest works. Read more here: http://www.magicalwisdom.com/masterpieces

Magic for Speakers & Presenters

I see magic as a perfect tool for public speakers! This month I will be featured at the annual convention of the NATIONAL SPEAKERS ASSOCIATION.

“Magic for Speakers and Presenters” will highlight the work we have created to help speakers at all levels add a bit of magic to their talks. Tobias and Larry will join the team and host breakout sessions. Perhaps we’ll see you there!

http://www.nsaspeaker.org/attend/convention/

Magic & Meaning

I love dramatic magic and magic that has meaning… but unfortunately, most of what I see on stage, and tv, and the internet is just a bunch of tricks– tricks without a premise or a plot line. That is a sad state of the art, but here at the Magic & Mystery School we are doing something about this!  Something to take magic back into richer areas of theater, art, entertainment and philosophy.  Every year, we get together with the world’s top thinkers in the magical arts.

We call this homecoming Magic & Meaning.

Come celebrate 25 years of the McBride Magic & Mystery School with us at this year’s Magic & Meaning Conference! We will be honoring Eugene Burger for his 25 years of service as The Dean of the School, and our special keynote speaker will be the celebrated magic director Bob Fitch.

Hosted by the Magic & Mystery School Faculty, the Magic and Meaning Conference is an annual gathering of magicians, scholars, public speakers, professionals from many arenas, and performers of diverse arts. It is for anyone who loves magic, storytelling, or the philosophy of magic, and who wants to think about magic in new ways.  Attendance is strictly limited to 80 people so we can create a friendly, interactive community of learning and performing.

At the heart of the Conference are a number of 20-minute presentations from Conference attendees that we call the “PEP Talks” of magic (“Performance—Entertainment—Philosophy”). The Conference also features “Ensemble Shows” during which attendees are able to perform magic for the entire group.

For More info go here:

http://www.magicalwisdom.com/events#489

The 2016 Magic and Meaning Conference will be held at the Tuscany Suites & Casino. For additional information or questions, please contact Katherine Rettke, the Conference’s Executive Assistant, at mmconference@magicalwisdom.com

Wonderground News – July 21

7 PM: Christian and Randilyn -Host

Strolling magic with Michael Mirth, Miguel and Jeff

Allen Scott will do tarot readings

8 Pm Show: Tim Wise is your host

Cecile & Mighty – Music, Magic and much much more!

Dyno Statts – Steampunk Sorcery

James Kelsey – Magical & Mischief

AGA-BOOM – Ukrainian Clown Sensation

9PM Close Up & Strolling Magic: Christian Diamond is your host & MC

Michael Mirth, Dyno Statts & Jeff McBride

Bar Magic by Zack, Steelfyre and Tim Wise

10PM Stage Extravaganza!

Jeff McBride is your host & MC

Cecile & Mighty – Magic, Music & Circus Arts

Sonny Fontana – The Invisible Man

Tim Wise – A Man on Fire!

AGA-BOOM – Ukrainian Clown Superstars

Mago Angello – Stage Magic Sensation – Las Vegas Premiere!

Jeff McBride – New Mask Magic

PLUS: Bar Magic: Zack Pattee, Scott Steelfyre, Iam Creed, & Randilyn

The NWR-Tribal Belly Dance Troupe, Psychic Sideshow with Alan Scott, live art with Areeya and many more surprises and special celebrity guests!!

Please let us know when you plan to visit Las Vegas…. It would be our pleasure to roll out the red carpet and host you at The Magic & Mystery School!

Be inspired!

Jeff and Abigail

A Question For You

A QUESTION FOR YOU

Eugene Burger

Museletter July, 2016

Over a year ago I received a comment and an important question from my friend, Rabbi Arthur Kurzweil, the former publisher of the wonderful Parabola magazine. I did not answer it when I received it but feel that now is the time to consider what Arthur sent. Rather than try to summarize what he wrote — and thereby perhaps dilute it — I will quote his comment and question in full.

Arthur wrote:

“I have often heard people say they don’t like magic and magicians. I have often heard magicians complain that the ‘magical arts’ are not taken seriously.

“But I often attend lectures and read the lessons of some of the most popular and celebrated children’s magicians. They are offering their ‘wisdom’ and experience on how to be a successful magician for children’s audiences. It seems that their major goal is to get children to laugh, and their tools include fart and body fluid jokes as well as routines based on silly antics that show the magician to be a foolish idiot. ‘Kids love it,’ they say.

“My question is this: aren’t these magicians, who are so often praised by the magic community, despite all the laughter they generate, also sending the message to young people that magicians are obnoxious jerks? Aren’t they really going for the easy laughs? Isn’t it time we woke up to this to realize we are our own worst enemies when we plant these kinds of memories of magicians in the minds of young people?”

A very serious comment and question, don’t you think?

How do you relate to these thoughts? How would you answer Arthur’s question? Are you sympathetic or fighting mad? Thoughts like this do tend to divide and polarize us. But Arthur is serious. That’s the first thing we need to remember.

I have said many times that I think in the United States there are two different philosophies or approaches to presenting magic for children. To summarize them in a very brief way: one philosophy presumes success when the children are laughing and screaming and the other approach presumes success when the children are quiet and listening. This may be too simplistic a summary of these views but I think you get the point.

Which is best? Which do you prefer? Can they be combined?

I do not perform for children. When I began my professional career in 1978, I consciously decided that I would be an adult entertainer. Not that I wanted to present off color humor in my work but, rather, because I felt more comfortable performing for adults. I say this so you understand that I have never had to make a decision about which of these two paths to travel.

Well…what do I think? Which approach do I think is best?

Does it really matter what I think? Doesn’t it matter much more what you think? Especially if you, unlike me, actually perform for children?

So, what do you think?

Back in the early 1980s, when I was performing at Don’s Fishmarket, a restaurant on Chicago’s Rush Street, one of the waiters came over to me and said, “Jean Marsh is here tonight. Should I ask her if she wants to see some magic?”

Jean Marsh was an actress who was one of the stars of Upstairs, Downstairs, a British television series that was very successful on PBS in the United  States. In 1975. In fact, she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the show.

I said to the waiter: “Absolutely! Please ask her.”

He did. She replied, “I loathe magic!”

At the time, I remember thinking to myself: Perhaps she had an early bad experience with magic and magicians at a child’s birthday party.