(Taken from my letter to my team at Meta Illusions)
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"I offer you no quick answer to this question. But after 15 years of magic, I think I am moving closer to figuring it out.
This is something I would like you to think about from now on and for the rest of your magic journey. While the term "Magician" is loosely thrown around and has become synonymous to "prankster", "trickster" and "con-man"; the true essence of a magician is beyond that.
One can be a person who does tricks, specializing in difficult manoeuvres with his/her hands but unfortunately, can never rise up to the ranks of magician.
One can simply bring attention to the marvels of the world without difficult sleight of hand, and inch closer to the ranks of magician. But not just yet.
To be called a magician, in its purest form, one needs to create and curate these acts of marvels, and bring them forth to their audience. On its own, it is not enough to just create or curate.
Many of us fall short of being a "Magician" in its purest form. Perhaps the concept is too idealistic to be humanly achieved. However, the reality is that most do not even try. Gratified by the admiration of industrial peers, we reduce magic into moves and techniques. Magic is no longer about transporting audiences into a world where fantasy blends into reality, it loses its essence of inspiring and creating the sense of wonder. It becomes about self gratification and the (sad) comfort in knowing something that your audiences do not.
The diversion path is long and arduous, and more often than not, you would be mocked by amateur "magicians", with the "I am better than you" attitude. After exhausting their pool of disdained lay audiences with their obsession with moves and manoeuvres, they sadly graduate to a magic audience. The good news is, as long as we keep striving towards this ideal, to bring our audiences to the edge of reality, we can make the world a better place, inch by inch, moments by moments, we can pat ourselves on the back and call ourselves "Magician".
Because as long as we keep in mind that magic is about what the audiences experience, you have earned the right to call yourself a Magician. And I hope you continuously inspire and make the world a better place, in your own magical ways."
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Current thoughts:
As long as I can, I want to be able to call myself a Magician.
Alexander Y
Magician