Inevitably a guest will exclaim, “My kid would love this!”

When I ask how old their child is, the answer is usually six or seven. 

Never mind that I’m appearing at a corporate event or social function in a sharp suit and engaging with challenging close-up magic or reading minds from the stage. It still happens.

Don’t mistake this for complaining. I’ve been passionate about magic since I was 10 years old and I’m grateful to have it as my profession for over 25 years.

I’m just wonder why.

My kids live in a world of wonder and joy. Everything they experience is magical. But eventually society will tell them it’s time to put childlike things away and grow up. Sadly, magic will be added to that box and buried in the backyard. 

“So remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and hold on to that childlike sense of wonder about what makes the universe exist.”

— Stephen Hawking

We grown-ups need magic now more than ever. That’s why we go to the theater, visit the museum, read a novel, or listen to music. These things pull us out of our daily grind. That’s the power of magic; it puts us face-to-face with a mystery. 

If only for a few moments and even if it’s a simple, well-executed card trick.

The world of Magic is filled with larger than life personalities, impossible miracles, and legendary stories that border on myth.

This recent article in the New York Times tries to capture all that with the story of one man and his Holy Grail.

David Berglas is famous in our little world for many things but nothing comes close to the legend that’s been created around a trick known as Any Card at Any Number. To be more specific, The Berglas Effect.

It goes like this. You’re asked to name a playing card in a standard deck of cards. Another person is asked for a number from 1 to 52. You’re then asked to pick up a deck of cards sitting on the table — untouched by the performer — and count down to the number named. The card you asked for is found exactly at the number named. Fucking miracle.

Most magic tricks go from Point A to Point B to Point C and eventually reach an astonishing climax. It happens the same way every time, so essentially the performer needs to follow the steps.

But not The Berglas Effect. It’s almost impossible to teach or explain because, depending on the method used, it’s never the same twice. It requires spontaneity, an open mind, and a set made of brass.

It’s rarely seen because it’s hard to do but I’m not necessarily speaking about technique. There are many versions of the trick. Have you noticed new video banners on the redesigned website? The final moments of those two card tricks you see there is a version of ACANN. There’s also a different version in my virtual show.

The challenge is creating the space so the power of the effect can exist.

It would be so easy to post the entire video of those performances but that would be a disservice. You’d miss out on that feeling in the center of your body when the bottom falls out. Who am I to deprive you of that?

No. Better if you ask about it when next we meet.

“My chief task has been to conquer fear. The public sees only the thrill of the accomplished trick; they have no conception of the tortuous preliminary self-training that was necessary to conquer fear.”

— Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 - October 31, 1926)

This has been tucked away in my notes since September 2018. Dusted it off, made some edits and is now posted here for our edification.

To set the scene, I was performing at my residency last night for about eight people. We were gathered on couches and ottomans around a low, glass table. Throughout the evening, guests drift in and out of the performances, but this one lasted about 30 minutes.

Close-up magic is quite intimate and casual and, if done “right,” the audience and performer really get to know each other.

This particular audience was a gathering of eight friends. I was sitting on the couch next to Mario, who was from El Salvador, and his wife who was from Germany. They lived in Hanover but visit San Francisco every 4 year to see family.

“The Magician is an initiate of secret and hidden knowledge of all kinds.
And this is the important point. All knowledge that takes special training to acquire is the province of the Magician energy.”

— King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette

As often happens after a performance in this particular venue, guests will often ask questions:

“How did you get into magic?”

“Do you have a teacher?”

“Did you go to school for it?”

One woman commented that “you must have been born with it?”

Mario said he could never do anything like what he experienced.

When I asked what he did for a living he replied that he was a chef but “it's nothing like what you do.”

"Yes, it is, Mario. It's exactly like what I do."

I met Emily Balcetis many years ago at the Tribeca Ball, in New York City. She was a guest of the organizer and I performed bit close up magic for her and we got to talking.

One thing led to another — as things often do — and she invited me to visit her class and talk about Visual Perception in Magic with her students at NYU’s Psychology Department. We did this a handful of times over the course of a few years and it was a great learning experience for me.

Here she is speaking at TED:

Anyway, Penguin Random House is publishing Emily’s book and I’m thrilled to have a couple of pages all to myself!

You can pre-order it here.

Thanks, Emily! It’s an honor.

And congratulations on your success!