I asked myself, why not to use it in a magic way. I started producing coins from the well. I dipped my magic wand in there and produced a ball from the tip of the wand. Then I placed the ball into my left hand as the right hand with the wand dipped into the water again, then tapping the left hand to make the ball vanish. That's some built in motivation right there.
Realizing that I am building up the water as a power claim it struck me that the linking rings would greatly benefit from the magic water. So I showed two rings, dipped them into the water, linked them and came out with the small chain. Then I dipped in the 2-set and seemingly did the same effect. I could hand out the 2-set and the reaction I got was much stronger than those crash links. Then the usual antics and finally both chains of 2 would fuse inside the water to the chain of 4. It really is an eerie sight pulling out the ring from the water. Even though there is no difference in handling, the whole procedure felt very different. The effect was different. The water caused the magic.
If you got an endlessly overflowing well, use it!
BRILLIANT idea, Roland, thanks a lot for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt's right in the line of the process I've been gradually applying to most of my magic over the years, namely, taking the "magic focus" away from myself and attributing the power to some mysterious (and often totally dispensable to the method) random object, were it a box, a wand, a talisman, etc.
It can be as simple as ostensibly putting on a certain ring before doing the trick and claiming that whichever power I'm about to display is imparted to me by it, and that I'm totally unable to do it without it; or it can involve much more complex stories and patters.
It works particularly well with kids, who often truly get mesmerized by what they're convinced is a rare, powerful ancient artefact and infallibly ask if they can see it up close or even touch it. Depending on what history and powers I attributed to the item, I either let them (with a warning to "be careful with it, it's very potent"), or refuse adamantly, claiming it would be way too dangerous for a non-sorcerer to handle.
I find this presentation method (provided it's done subtly enough not to make your audience feel you mistake them for 5-years-olds) to be a good safeguard against the ever-menacing ego, one of the most dangerous traps a magician can fall in.
With tricks that involve audience participation, it gives some substance to the whole thing to actually slip the magic ring onto their finger and let THEM "do the magic", thus giving a display of the object's inherent power, rather than saying (like most magicians would) that you're going to make the magic happen in their very hand (which, after all, pretty much ammounts to "I'm so clever I can fool you even when you're actually holding the bloody thing).
Thanks again for the great idea; I wouldn't use it as is (I've always felt uncomfortable with that even when granted explicit permission by the author), but it definitely gives me food for thought. ;)