Wonder and entertainment: magic for this purpose

Wonder and entertainment is the aim of the stage magician: to astonish an audience who knows it is being fooled. Conjuring, illusion, mentalism and street magic belong here, from the cups and balls of ancient Rome to Robert-Houdin, Houdini, Harry Kellar, P. C. Sorcar of India, Siegfried and Roy, and David Copperfield. This page covers the art, its history and its ethics, and does not reveal how any trick is done.

The art of the honest lie

A magician promises a trick and delivers astonishment. The pleasure comes from the gap between what is seen and what is known. Performers speak of misdirection, timing, patter and showmanship. Magicians also keep an informal rule not to expose methods, so that audiences can keep the pleasure and the craft keeps its livelihood. This is the most open part of the subject, in which no one is asked to believe.

Where it is performed

Magic has always had a street and a stage. In India, P. C. Sorcar Sr. (1913 to 1971) toured the world and became a national name. In China and Japan, conjuring was part of variety theatre and a distinct craft. In the Arab world and the Ottoman empire, performers worked in coffee houses and fairs. In the West, the music hall, the television special and the Las Vegas show carried the art into mass entertainment.

Who is welcome

For much of its history, the profession was dominated by men, with women as assistants, though performers such as Adelaide Herrmann broke the pattern. Racial stereotypes shaped acts: Western performers played Chinese or Indian magicians in costume, and Chung Ling Soo's disguise was a famous case. Today, magicians from many countries and women performers are widely visible. Magicians from Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Nigeria now work on global stages and in festivals, and a few have become well known beyond their borders.

Entertainers against fraud

Houdini and James Randi spent years exposing mediums and faith healers who claimed real powers, arguing that honest conjurers protect the public. Scholars of the mind use magic to study attention, memory and belief. The boundary matters: claiming genuine supernatural power for a trick and charging for it is fraud, not entertainment. As the code puts it, the trick can be admired and enjoyed without the secret being known, and children and adults alike keep that pleasure.

Wonder and entertainment on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreMay Day A European spring festival marking the start of summer with flowers, poles and fire.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomJohn Nevil Maskelyne A Victorian magician who exposed fraud and invented the pay toiletIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomHarry Price A British psychic researcher and conjurer who investigated paranormal claims and exposed fraudulent mediums.Tradition · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇫🇷 France and 1 moreStage magic A performing art of tricks and illusions that entertain audiences using natural meansIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇮🇳 IndiaStreet magic Public performance of illusions for passersby, from traditional busking to impromptu guerrilla tricksIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇺🇸 United StatesSawing a lady in half (sample) A famous stage effect, described without its method.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Performed

🇨🇦 CanadaSpoon bending A magic trick and paranormal claim involving the deformation of metal cutleryBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreTelekinesis A purported psychic ability to move objects with the mind aloneBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreMagic A performance art using natural means to create the appearance of impossible featsIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇺🇸 United StatesHail Satan A Satanic exclamation used as ritual greeting, rebel cry, and pop-culture punchlineBelief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Living

🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreChink-a-chink A close-up coin trick where objects appear to jump between locations until gathered togetherIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Living

Wonder and entertainment