A brief diversion from the usual news announcements…
My life is filled with unusual and sometimes astonishing coincidences. As a performer of psychological illusion, I am required to be aware of many more subtle details of my environment than most, and it is this awareness to which I give credit for the synchronicities. I simply notice more detail (but yes, I am disturbingly absentminded as well!), and hence I find coincidence where others may overlook it. When I receive a phone call from the bank teller saying that many unusual things have been occuring since I visited last, I begin to wonder if there is something more going on, but I entertain these ideas only momentarily.
Today, however, something hilariously coincidental happened that left me, as a magician, suprised and startled.
I am frequently called upon to provide “roving” magic for companies. Magic where I wander around and entertain the guests. It is the case that I often perform some of the classics of magic for these events. The card to wallet is one of them. You know the effect. A spectator signs a card, it’s lost in the deck, and after much mixing and many attempts to locate it, it turns up sealed inside the drivers license window of the magicians wallet. Wow, amazing. It actually is if performed well, and like most classics, it’s a delight to perform.
Well, today while running through some classic effects alone, simply for practice, I did this very effect. I didn’t bother to look at the card that I chose, I just took one out of the deck, put it back, mixed it up, and then went to my wallet to retrieve it. Part of the patter involves me letting the spectator remove the card that they see inside the wallet face down. As they turn it over, I ask them to verify that it is the very same playing card that they themselves signed. Well, it was just me this morning, so I spoke the words, and turned the face down card over myself, and just as I said the word “signature” I was absolutely floored to see a signature on this card that I pulled from my wallet! Did I forget to mention that I DID NOT SIGN THE CARD? As far as I knew, I was pulling a random, unsigned card from the deck. But here, as I uttered the word “signature”, the card turns out to be signed with my stage partners signature! What magic is this? I was stunned. In awe. Utterly frozen with amazement and wonder.
As it turns out, my partner Steve had used the very same deck three days prior to do a signed card effect. He unwittingly put the signed card back into the deck. I was entirely unaware of this, yet I managed to choose, at random and without looking at the faces, the very same signed card. It was this that was transferred to my wallet, and that which I pulled out with mouth agape.
A simple yet hilarious coincidence, but one that certainly left me babbling incoherently for a few minutes.
Enjoy the magic that the world provides. We live in a mysterious and beautiful place.