Hi Robroin,

Thanks for the introduction. Magic and psychology are not only linked, but are one in the same. All magic happens in the mind of the audience and not in the hands of the magician. In short you create the magic and not the magician. You asked about specifics so I will try to answer as best I can (without writing a book).

As mentioned I incorporate a lot of Milton Erickson’s techniques into my magic. For example I use his concept of metaphor and indirect suggestion in my patter (the words spoken in the performance of a trick), to add to the impact of the climax of the trick and to misdirect. I also use Erickson’s language patterns in order to facilitate a specific state of maid or to encourage emotional states pertaining to the trick. Here is a simple example.

Say I am doing a card trick and I want to build an expectation in the mind of the spectator that they are about to see something amazing. If I say, “Please let me show you something that you will find amazing,” a resistance is created in the mind of my spectator and the trick becomes a “try and amaze me” situation, which sets up competition between magician and audience which spoils the magic’s entertainment value.

Rather if I say, “I would like to show you my favorite trick which people find amazing.” Here the spectator comes to his or her own conclusion that they will be amazed (after all they are a people too). I also incorporate pacing in a story where the character in the story, in the beginning mirrors what I know the spectator is thinking and as the story goes along I draw the spectator into the fantasy world of the story in order to guide their thinking into the wrong assumptions that I want for the accomplishment of the magic.
Does that make any sense? Comments?

WR