We humans are castaways on an ocean of uncertainty. Since the beginnings of history, our ancestors sought knowledge and understanding about their lives, their relationship with the cosmos, and perhaps… Read the rest of the article: A Scheme of Heaven is a deep investigation of astrology from a scientist’s perspective
When watching a magician perform some card tricks, it's a legitimate question to ask: "Would you be able to cheat at a card game?" Most performers will smirk and wink,… Read the rest of the article: What Steve Forte can do with a pack of cards borders on the unbelievable
As a magician and sleight-of-hand artist, I've been wrestling with the thorny and slippery notion of Art for a long time. A recent "magical project" rekindled my attention about this… Read the rest of the article: Art in the age of artifice
In Hermann Hesse's novel Steppenwolf we visit a mysterious and strange magic theatre, where some pretty weird things happen. Meant for madmen and madwomen only, the price of admission is… Read the rest of the article: The magic theatre of High Weirdness
Within the topography of the human soul there is a strange land called the Uncanny. As Sigmund Freud wrote in his classic essay on the topic: The subject of the… Read the rest of the article: Bizarro Bazar keeps the world weird
There is a time in every artistic and scientific field when a precocious and promising young star appears. More often than not, as time goes by, the young star proves… Read the rest of the article: Joshua Jay: Six Impossible Things is a different kind of magic show
Mind metaphysics, or positive thinking, is a fascinating and mysterious field of personal exploration and inquiry. The guiding principle and basic tenet of mind metaphysics is that thoughts are causative,… Read the rest of the article: The Miracle Club: How Thoughts Become Reality
Ricky Jay – magician, sleight-of-hand artist extraordinaire, actor, author, scholar of weirdness and oddities, Guinness award winner for throwing playing cards – passed away on November 24th at age 72.… Read the rest of the article: The great Ricky Jay was the magician’s magician
The world is full of places of wonder. Some of them are physical places; others are places of the imagination. The College Of Extraordinary Experiences is both. Once a year,… Read the rest of the article: The College of Extraordinary Experiences transforms you in the most mind-blowing way
Every year, summer brings a merry-go-round of global music festivals. For the past 15 years, I've been keenly surfing the international weirdo festival circuit, from small parties to mainstream mega… Read the rest of the article: The OZORA music festival is a psychedelic tribal gathering I keep coming back to
Here’s a provocative question to ponder: Do you believe in luck? We generally believe we’re in control of our lives; we proudly take credit for our achievements and tell compelling… Read the rest of the article: Is control over your life just an illusion? Here's a game that has you making life decisions based on the roll of a die
The Act of Reading It's been 10 years since the writing of The Atlantic's now classic essay Is Google Making Us Stupid? in which Nicholas Carr addressed how our reading… Read the rest of the article: To Read Aloud is a portal straight to that Middle Earth where magic happens
It is common in industrial and post-industrial societies to suppose a rigid, almost antagonistic division between work and play. We work in order to earn enough money to afford us… Read the rest of the article: Ferdinando Buscema on the power of play
The Hermetic Philosophy There is an underground current of thought beneath Western culture, running quietly like a vein of quicksilver: The Hermetic Philosophy. This ancient and multifaceted phenomenon is often… Read the rest of the article: New documentary is a magic portal into a weird and wonderful library
The whole magic community mourns the passing of Eugene Burger, at age 78. One of the most influential magicians of the 20th century, as well as an exceptional human being,… Read the rest of the article: Eugene Burger, the Magician Philosopher
What do you after you Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out? Well, you go and Find The Others. Last May 2017, I flew to London for the staging of Cosmic… Read the rest of the article: A review of Cosmic Trigger, a play based on Robert Anton Wilson's autobiography
Now and then I stumble upon a book that completely blows my mind. The latest of such lucky encounters has been with Seven Brief Lessons in Physics by Carlo Rovelli.… Read the rest of the article: Seven Brief Lessons in Physics: a thing of beauty is a joy forever
This month marks the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. It's a good time to celebrate that moment, when the portals opened and a stream of cosmic… Read the rest of the article: Happy 40th Birthday to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"
A lifehack for dying
What is a book? The commonly held notion is pretty simple: it is an object made of pieces of paper, glued or bounded together, with stuff written in it. Indisputable.… Read the rest of the article: Magic Books – the secret art of book hacking
