Abracadabra! Magic Tricks Revealed

Magic tricks are one of the oldest forms of entertainment on this planet. It predates television, movies, books, and theater by centuries as a form of popular entertainment. Behind all the secrecy, however, lies some very simple principles that are used (by themselves or in combination) behind every magic trick.

A magician uses several effects to achieve his/her illusion, and these effects are divided into seven basic categories. The first, Production, involves a magician literally creating something from nothing, like the classic case of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

The second is Vanish, or when the magician makes something disappear– anything from a simple coin, to the Statue of Liberty. A Vanish is regarded as the reverse of a Production.

The third is Transformation, which is changing something from one state to another. For example, turning a female assistant into a tiger. This may also include Restoration, which involves transforming a damaged object back to its undamaged state.

Teleportation is the fourth, when the magician causes something to move from its original place to somewhere else. For example, an assistant vanishing from a cabinet and reappearing at the back of the theater.

A transposition, on the other hand, is a simultaneous, double teleportation. Here, two objects switch places.

Levitation is when the magician seemingly defies gravity. The magician may either make something float in thin air, or with the help of another object. This includes the popular self-levitation, where the magician seems to float a few inches off the ground.

The sixth is Penetration, where the magician makes a solid material pass through another. It is also sometimes referred to as the “solid-through-solid” trick. A popular example would be the linking rings trick.

Finally, Prediction is when the magician guesses beforehand the choice of a spectator, or the result of an event under what appears to be impossible circumstances. For example predicting a newspaper headline, the total sum of loose change in the person's pocket, or a picture drawn on a piece of paper.

Advanced magic would use a combination of two or more of these tricks to make the feat look complicated.