The Buzz Around Magic, Mentalisim, Illusion and Planning Your Ultimate Escape?

I took my two boys (who are in their late 20s) to see Cosentino and have dinner at the Star Casino earlier this month as a birthday present for both of them, since their birthdays are only weeks apart and they took me to an illusionist show last year for my birthday -
An aMUSEing Act of HOLLYWOOD Foolishness?

Human Initiated Contact Experiences (HICE) or Just Theater of the Mind?

I often wonder how many of these stage magicians are just materialists or are into the woo woo.

I kept smirking when Cosentino would be doing a card trick and say, "this is for all the skeptics out there."
You'd have to be nuts or gullible not to be a skeptic when it came to an illusionist/magic show, because of course it's not real magic as in magick with a "k".
Not that I believe that most people who call themselves magickians can really do anything much more magickal than the average person can anyway.
Most of the so called "magickians" are just playing a grown-up version of Harry Potter pretend in my book grimoire.

My favourite stage magician/mentalist/illusionist would be Derren Brown, who I heard being interviewed on Russell Brand's podcast the other day -
#76 Truth & Illusions (with Derren Brown)

My belief about spirituality is very similar to Russell's view and I was surprised to hear Derren beginning to sway a little to our side of the fence when I thought he would be more of an atheist type when it came to spiritual belief.

Cosentino strikes me as a spiritual type and I would imagine that there is a mix of those Catholic spiritual beliefs in his head there somewhere battling it out between thinking it is all mythological garbage to thinking that there might just be something behind all of the controlling dogma the Church try to spin to keep the flock in line that is worth believing in.
But I'm not a "religious" person myself when it comes to the woo.

But who knows, maybe I'm creating my own illusion seeing Cosentino as some kind of spiritual thinking guy when maybe he is just another hard materialist "the world is nothing but a trick and there is no real magic happening" kind of guy like James Randi.

Although, I did notice Cos wears a cross around his neck, so I think I may be right thinking he is not in the James Randi camp of "believers".

Maybe he is in the Loyd Auerbach camp when it comes to stage magicians who believe in the woo?
Sunspot Activity?

Sometimes it's hard for me to read a magician as to what that magician is actually telling you about themselves, because with stage magic the trick is to keep the illusion going to fool the target audience.

The name of the game in magic is to sell your trick to the audience to try and make them believe, whether you the magician do or not.

The magickian on the other hand has to believe in the tricks he is trying to pull over himself when it comes to his life and his ultimate escape from the living.

Holding a magic show in a casino has to be somewhat of a gamble if you are a magician, but it seems to have paid off for Cosentino and makes for a good metaphor about life.

My eldest son won $450 dollars at roulette, my youngest won $25 and I didn't bet.
I still felt like a loser on the night though, because as I stood watching them play roulette I guessed about 4 out of ten of the correct numbers at odds of 35-1.
I was telling my sons the numbers before the spin of the wheel, so I had a witness to my guesses.
They don't think I'm psychic though, just lucky ... or on this occasion unlucky, because I didn't put my money where my mouth was.
The thing is I don't think I could do it if I put my hard earned on the table, as I wouldn't want to lose and would start second guessing myself before the bet.

Such is life when it comes to the magic of gambling to win, I think.

A page out of Paul Cosentino's book:-)

Meaning in Life, Death ... and Magic/k?