week of wonders! (day2)
Mar. 2nd, 2009 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wytchcroftWelcome, welcome and thrice welcome once again to this week of wonders!
This show of magic!
.
Ah magic... Yes boys and girls that mysterious tenth sense of the 9th dimension - from Prometheus and his gift of fire to Hermes Trigmegistos and the founding of Alchemy - through Master Burckhardt and on to the capricious wiles of Dr D and the awe and majesty of Prospero on his island...
...to the dread witches of Macbeth to the kindly fury of the covens and the reckless theatre of Madame Blavatsky and the holy fool Crowley.
From the adventures of Timothy Hunter (the original Harry Potter?) to my personal favourite The Worst Witch herself, Mildred Hubble (the original Harry Potter?).
(Ah i'm just messing with ya! Sit down in the back there!)
Mildred Hubble, whose latest adventures I have just been given as an early birthday present – woot!.
Not to mention, in my own time, the wonder of Ali Bongo before whom so many of my generation would sit enthralled.
The eternal mystery to speaks to hearts above our minds, where did it come from and where is it going?
Well, a history lesson then:
Magic was invented by Hieronymus P. Knickerbocker in 1902 using a frog, a bellows and some fireworks.
Unfortunately for the Professor he was vaporised and blown back through time, dispersed into the aether, suffusing the entirety of history with his micro-particles...
Truly, it can now be said that just as Magic is everywhere, so too there is a little knickerbocker in all of us.
Yes indeed a tiny, tiny knickerbocker - smaller than a flea.
Flea's of course are also magic - witness this selection of superb insect delights!
Ah the circus - the glamour, thrill and danger of that great roving beast of entertainment found in so many forms... from the rampages of Dionysus to the Medicine shows and Carny of the old West and Oakie, from the traditional fun of clowns and the high-wire to the diesel punk antics of Archaos for whom I once juggled TV sets and waved a chainsaw! Even now the circus is in my blood - my cousin has married into it and one of my best friends is a trapeze artist.
And finally, talking of juggling - it is said that the highest and most profound feat of juggling - the magic that all young jugglers should aspire to, is the art of making the balls stand still.
I have achieved this.
Not in the air perhaps, as is supposed to happen - but certainly in my hands! Most especially when I was learning to spin the glass spheres made so popular by the amazing skill of Jareth the Goblin King.
To learn this art I used to practise blindfolded with three spheres in my hand as I walked the length and breadth of the house in which I and my partner of the time lived.
It was in doing so that I discovered the related art of falling or I should say tumbling - not to mention yelling, spraining and getting to a hospital quickly! Heady times.
And so we draw the curtain closed for now, only for now - please my friends join us tomorrow for another day in this week of wonders!
For I can promise many varied treats to come - including entertaining trickery, clowning and conjuring, feats of illusion and sleight of hand.
Than you Ladies and Gentlemen, refreshments can be found at the stand and a short question and answer session will follow.
This show of magic!
.Ah magic... Yes boys and girls that mysterious tenth sense of the 9th dimension - from Prometheus and his gift of fire to Hermes Trigmegistos and the founding of Alchemy - through Master Burckhardt and on to the capricious wiles of Dr D and the awe and majesty of Prospero on his island...
...to the dread witches of Macbeth to the kindly fury of the covens and the reckless theatre of Madame Blavatsky and the holy fool Crowley.
From the adventures of Timothy Hunter (the original Harry Potter?) to my personal favourite The Worst Witch herself, Mildred Hubble (the original Harry Potter?).
(Ah i'm just messing with ya! Sit down in the back there!)
Mildred Hubble, whose latest adventures I have just been given as an early birthday present – woot!.
Not to mention, in my own time, the wonder of Ali Bongo before whom so many of my generation would sit enthralled.
The eternal mystery to speaks to hearts above our minds, where did it come from and where is it going?
Well, a history lesson then:
Magic was invented by Hieronymus P. Knickerbocker in 1902 using a frog, a bellows and some fireworks.
Unfortunately for the Professor he was vaporised and blown back through time, dispersed into the aether, suffusing the entirety of history with his micro-particles...
Truly, it can now be said that just as Magic is everywhere, so too there is a little knickerbocker in all of us.
Yes indeed a tiny, tiny knickerbocker - smaller than a flea.
Flea's of course are also magic - witness this selection of superb insect delights!
Ah the circus - the glamour, thrill and danger of that great roving beast of entertainment found in so many forms... from the rampages of Dionysus to the Medicine shows and Carny of the old West and Oakie, from the traditional fun of clowns and the high-wire to the diesel punk antics of Archaos for whom I once juggled TV sets and waved a chainsaw! Even now the circus is in my blood - my cousin has married into it and one of my best friends is a trapeze artist.
And finally, talking of juggling - it is said that the highest and most profound feat of juggling - the magic that all young jugglers should aspire to, is the art of making the balls stand still.
I have achieved this.
Not in the air perhaps, as is supposed to happen - but certainly in my hands! Most especially when I was learning to spin the glass spheres made so popular by the amazing skill of Jareth the Goblin King.
To learn this art I used to practise blindfolded with three spheres in my hand as I walked the length and breadth of the house in which I and my partner of the time lived.
It was in doing so that I discovered the related art of falling or I should say tumbling - not to mention yelling, spraining and getting to a hospital quickly! Heady times.
And so we draw the curtain closed for now, only for now - please my friends join us tomorrow for another day in this week of wonders!
For I can promise many varied treats to come - including entertaining trickery, clowning and conjuring, feats of illusion and sleight of hand.
Than you Ladies and Gentlemen, refreshments can be found at the stand and a short question and answer session will follow.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 06:37 pm (UTC)wonderful!!!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 06:46 pm (UTC)and a big thank you!!:))
i hope you have a comfortable seat in this circus:)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 07:04 pm (UTC)pangolins... and knitted wear for cartoon characters are my favorites for today!
I like circus from two points of view, both very different. One is a circus of my childhood - Soviet circus with Yuri Nikulin, Leonod Yengibarov, Oleg Popov, with famous gymnastic dynasties etc.
but I also became found to a certain point in an old Barnum style Western circus - thanks to Mr. Ray Bradbury and his thrilling stories :)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 07:18 pm (UTC)yes, i grew up with a very typical sense of circus myself, until i could learn more, the most fun was with Archaos many years ago now! And i love those Bradbury stories:)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 07:50 pm (UTC)but i liked your 1st pic from this post! amd miracle...
no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-02 08:56 pm (UTC)The Circus!
Date: 2009-03-03 05:41 am (UTC)Aw, this is really wonderful. The poster is especially spectacular. And the flea circuses! oooh, flea circuses! My friend is working on one. and I read a fabulous story online once.
Sphere juggling is really beautiful. I have seen it at the magic shows occasionally. It sounds like a tale! Heady! and Exciting!
John is wary of the medicine shows as he has a healthy paranoia of tincture of mercury. And Severus is made understandably nervous by the following cited product: Hamlin's Wizard Oil Co.,Wizard Oil.
Juggling television sets? Do tell! Do tell!
How wonderful! I was charmed, enchanted, engrossed, impressed.
I must see Carny! Must!
Re: The Circus!
Date: 2009-03-03 07:51 am (UTC)Archaos were an amazing mad max of a touring circus, every time they came to the UK i would run for the auditions (they always needed lots of volunteers and extras). Their brand of pertol punk and showmanship is everywhere nowadays! Alas they themselves are not - they split up (like a rock n roll band) and their bastard child is (deep sigh) cirque soleil (zzz).
as for sphere juggling, i was, i guess, ok in a basic sort of way - i used to love going from arm to arm, really it was the fluidity and motion i enjoyed, which is of course dance.
flea circuses i adore - always have, i envy your friend very much, ah one day one day a genuine working cigar box will be mine! this icon is from a favourite film of mine, 'Mr Arkadin', the character is The Professor, he owns a flea circus.:)
Carny is a great film - i would also recommend the tv series Carnivale very much.
LOL! i did wonder if i might make john nervous - but those adverts are great aren't they?:)
now a favour... i am interviewing on thursday a promising young magician and i wonder (word of the week!) if you might have some advice to offer the lad? it would go nicely with the interview.
thanks indeed for your kind words and comments!:)
Re: The Circus!
Date: 2009-03-05 06:26 am (UTC)the best I have to offer is what was said of Cardini: that when you knew how he did the trick you were more amazed than you had been before you knew. this is the best of magic - that it is not a puzzle or a trick, but real wonder. grace and an air of simplicity add to magic, as does the cloud of times past, the smell of the carnival and the perfume of ladies in the parlour. but in the end, it is skill, practice and vision. the sense of illusion draws people to an act, but it is the reality that is the magic.
and, all that said, I am not that good yet, and I don't perform much because I am not yet that good.
8^) a happy birthday to you - perhaps it is today. the fifth is st. pirran's day. how fortunate to be cornish, with all the spelling systems, and be able to choose the spelling of his name!
Re: The Circus!
Date: 2009-03-05 06:38 am (UTC)thank you for this marvellous atmospheric advice - i will pass it on and post the interview as my next piece.:))
no subject
Date: 2009-03-03 08:42 pm (UTC)Hubby has a great big black trunk full of magical tricks- he was known as The Great at one time- when he was about twelve, I think! ;)
He can still snort a quarter up his nose and then retrieve it from behind a child's ear- good fun!
:D
thanks!
Date: 2009-03-03 08:48 pm (UTC)Re: thanks!
Date: 2009-03-03 08:54 pm (UTC)Huzzah!
:)
Re: thanks!
Date: 2009-03-03 08:55 pm (UTC)circus ramblings
Date: 2009-03-05 05:58 am (UTC)I once sang for the Moscow Circus. I had a folk duo at that time, and we sang labour songs. We couldn't afford to go see the circus when it came to our city, but due to amazing circumstances we got to go to the fantastic party with them afterwards. They spoke Russian, and communication was difficult, but they did remarkable personal things for us and gave us pins from the cities from which they came. We were sad not to have anything to give in return. But we sang all kinds of labour songs for them, and we all sang the Internationale, us in English and they in Russian (and admittedly, some in Spanish, German and Greek.)
The magic jamboree (convention? fair?) that we go to in Oregon is run by Stan Kramien who used to have a travelling circus, including an elephant who roller-skated. There are giant floats with two storey kinetic animals in his yard. I thought I could see them on Google Earth. They are circus people too - there are posters from those days up all over the fair(?) Stan's parents were travelling vaudeville performers. His son is a millionaire plumber and set up this whole farm for the fair each year. And it is warm and so much fun! He is a gentleman and a grand host in the old sense.
I can do some merry circus things. I have been a clown (why do people dislike clowns? what? what? *shrugs*,) a mime (why do people dislike mimes? what? what? *shrugs*,) can ride a unicycle, do stilts, juggle (though not with the beautiful spheres and nothing fancy that is worth blorging about.) I've done face-painting and such things. balloons. I've done puppetry.
I have seen circuses. classic circuses. I wish there were more, but there may be more yet, of course. I am ever-hopeful. there is a boy in the magic union who is just great. he works tremendously hard and des all the brilliant circus things. he seems as fond or more of these than magic. I am all admiration.
Re: circus ramblings
Date: 2009-03-05 06:45 am (UTC)i have never been a clown, although i have been a comic dancer (which is close) with a big mask and props and for a short time i also did mime - i love the sense of slowing time when performing mime and the expressiveness. I wish I could have studied traditional Indian dance and theatre which captivated me as a child (and does still) where the relationship between eye and hand can mean a thousand different words and expressions...
thanks indeed for reading and commenting - posting every day like this has been an interesting challenge!