Magician

J.K. Rowling had sworn she was finished with Harry Potter, sworn so loud that everyone knew it was a lie. She tried some other styles but it did not work really.

So revive that poor dead and buried Harry Potter the author changes media and shifts from the printing press to the theater stage where she finds two people who are going to help her in that new venture, a playwright and a stage director.

The play in London was and is a success but the book, though bestselling is going to be disappointing to the readers who have not seen the play. The money-making logic of the venture will lead the producers of the play to releasing a DVD-Bluray capture of the stage production as fast as possible for the millions of people who want more than a few stage directions. She might be tempted to shift directly to a cinema production but that will frustrate the readers the same way since a cinema production cannot be compared to a play. It is like moonshine and starshine in a fully sunny sky. The film will have to betray the play to be realistic in its special effects.

But what I discover is that the author, from the very start, is obsessed by trilogies, triads, ternary structures, and so on.

The textual, archaeological, linguistic and ethnographic evidence examined in this study supports the view that the Lower Dniester region is one of the oldest regions of wine-making. The documents, artifacts and linguistic evidence containing information in relation to origin of wine-making from prospective of the origin of Dionysian cult is focused on the fullest archaeological and textual evidence from Circum-Pontic and east Mediterranean regions. The role and impact of wine on the culture and religion of ancient lands of Lower Dniester and early Indo-Europeans represented by archaeological evidences is illustrated in many ways. Reexamination of the Dionysian mythology by means of the interdisciplinary approach shows strong evidence of its place of origin.

ABSTRACT This article examines the process-related dynamics of becoming a magical
practitioner and an adherent of a Neopagan group, respectively. It analyzes the relation of
the thesis of Interpretive Drift (Luhrmann) and the concept of Coming Home Experience,
which have a big impact on academic discussions and are often seen as mutually
contradictory. Using empirical data from two German interview studies with
contemporary magicians and German heathen (Asatru) groups, the article shows that
the two dynamics can form complementary elements of the process. In addition, it
emphasizes the importance of personal extraordinary experiences containing strong
subjective evidence which are mostly neglected. Taking individual biographical aspects
into account as well as different personal motivations, an immense variety of approaches
to alternative worldviews might become possible. Thus we come to the conclusion that
simple generalizations in characterizing the ‘pathway to magical beliefs and practices’ are
misleading.

This article presents findings of a field study of comtemporary magicians representing a large spectrum of magical disciplines. Eleven interviews were conducted in German-speaking countries, focusing on biographical embedding, experiential aspects, and world views. From this data, an attempt is made to describe the magician's personality. Five approaches and motivational structures guiding magical practice are identified, and five typified aspects of the magician are distinguished: the magician as artist, the magician as social utopian, the magician as scientist, the magician as "fully functioning person," and the magician as seeker of wisdom.

Summary:
Comments on the psychology of the art of deception: Initially, attention is called to the distinction between sensory and magical illusions. Sensory illusions belong to the perceptual world; special arrangements are necessary to become aware of them. In contrast to sensory illusions, illusions of magic are striking and immediate. Magical illusions, and the techniques of performing magic, profit from perceptual laws as phenomenal identity, causality, variability, constancy, and other Gestalt principles. The amazing and exciting effects of magic result from the dissonance between the spectators' scientific conception of the world and phenomenal evidence. How spectators react to presentations of magic throws some light on their personality. In this connection it is demonstrated how productive thinking may help to reveal magic secrets. Finally, some magical phenomena (appearing, vanishing, penetration, clairvoyance, levitating) are discussed from a psychological point of view.

Zusammenfassung:
Es wurde zunächst auf die Unterscheidung von Sinnestäuschungen und Tricktäuschungen hingewiesen. Sinnestäuschungen sind ein unabdingbarer Bestandteil unserer Wahrnehmungswelt, sie verblüffen nicht. Tricktäuschungen dagegen bedürfen keines besonderen Nachweises (wie die Sinnestäuschungen), sondern springen unmittelbar ins Auge.
Magische Vorführungen machen sich die Gesetzmäßigkeiten der Wahrnehmung (z.B. phänomenale Identität, Kausalität, Variabilität und Konstanz; Gestaltgesetze; amodale Ergänzungen) zunutze (Technik des Zauberns). Das Staunen des Zuschauers entspringt der Spannung zwischen seinem wissenschaftlichen Weltbild und dem, was anschaulich vor sich geht.
Die Art und Weise, wie Zuschauer auf magische Darbietungen antworten, läßt mancherlei Schlüsse auf deren Persönlichkeit zu. In diesem Zusammenhang wurde gezeigt, inwiefern produktive Denktechniken der Enträtselung von Zaubertricks dienen können.
Anhand verschiedener Trickdarbietungen (Erscheinen, Verschwinden, Durchdringen, Hellsehen, Schweben) wurden schließlich psychologische Grundlagen und Aspekte magischer Kunst besprochen

ABSTRACT This article examines the process-related dynamics of becoming a magical practitioner and an adherent of a Neopagan group, respectively. It analyzes the relation of the thesis of Interpretive Drift (Luhrmann) and the concept of Coming Home Experience, which have a big impact ...

«Outlining D. Maridakes, a multifaceted artist from Syros»
D. Maridakes, is included in Greek (Glove) Puppet Theatre («Fasoules»)’s pioneers. At the dawn of his career he was an actor and for many years an illusionist, as well. He was artistically active during the last quarter of 19th and first years of 20th century. He is considered to be successor of the first Greek puppeteer (Andreas Pogkes from Zakynthos) and master of the most well known, Chrestos Konitisiotes. Despite this acknowledgement though, no specific elements on his biography or author’s work have come to light, so far.
By this essay we aim -based on archival research- at providing answers to puzzling issues of research, such as his origin place, his birth place and date, the name (Demetios, Demos, Demosthenes ?) of the artist, hidden under the initiative letter «D.», his civil status, etch.
Mostly though, we aim at introducing part of his missing writing production and extra elements on his artistic tours around Greece and Cyprus. Adding missing pieces in his artistic portrait, we wish to contribute to theatre history and to his welcoming in Cycladic cultural circles.

Este trabajo analiza algunos aspectos interesantes -en conexión con el posmodernismo- de la tesis sostenida por uno de los protagonistas de la novela La música del mundo o el efecto Mon- toliú, que el escritor Andrés Ibáñez publicó en 1995: en él, el profesor de literatura Agustín Montoliu defiende la idea de que el yo como sujeto es sólo una construcción artística más de- ntro de nuestra cultura, y las implicaciones de esta asunción le llevan a analizar la estructura lógica de esta construcción, criticar sus basamentos, deconstruirla, y proponer por último una posible salida del individuo de esa estructura ficcional y no verdadera que es la propia biogra- fía. Con ello Montoliu quiere mostrar la crisis de realidad del sujeto a la que nos ha llevado necesariamente el posmodernismo y proponer una posible salida mediante la imaginación y la conversión del ser humano en la figura del mago, un mago posmoderno caracterizado por de- tectar esa estructura ficcional que todos somos y ser capaz de superarla conscientemente. La vida como construcción novelística lineal, y esta novela como primer paso por romper esa li- nealidad en la concepción del sujeto serán el punto clave de esta encrucijada.

ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes some interesant issues connected to posmodernism explained by one of the main characters in Andrés Ibañez's novel La música del mundo o El efecto Monotoliu (1995). Thus, Ibáñez present us the literary criticism professor Agustín Montoliu arguying that the self as a subject is just a historical construction that owns to our cultural world: therefore, this character analyzes the logic implicit in this construction and finally deconstructs it, asking us to exit from that fictional construction which is our life. The way to do that would be to become a posmodern magician. Ibáñez exposes the posmodernism crisis to give a solution through literature and the use of imagination.

With its roots in the sideshows of the old travelling fairs and the touring tent shows of oddities, the cabinet will be displaying a magical, wonderful and sometimes gruesome selection of displays for your entertainment.
For those guests with a strong constitution you will be offered a chance to interact with one final, very special exhibit, but you do so at entirely your own risk…

Parece que la teoría poética de la imaginación romántica, difundida con fuerza en la poesía no alcanza con arrolladora pasión la novela histórica española, pues si bien ésta se mueve en ese sistema idealista donde reina la imaginación aplicada a la Historia para conformar un género de carácter popular y nacionalista (léase el prólogo del López soler a Los bandos de Castilla), el aspecto fantástico ligado a dicha concepción espiritualista de la realidad y a las épocas retratadas (fundamentalmente la Edad Media) queda en un plano discreto y nada audaz que marcará también el carácter de la literatura española subsiguiente, a pesar de la corriente fantástica que incluyen a lo largo del siglo en su producción Valera, Pardo Bazán y otros.
Quizás por ello existe una ausencia de estudios específicos sobre la magia en la narrativa romántica española, y especialmente en la novela histórica romántica. En torno a la verdad y fantasía entreveradas en las mismas (que no la magia en sí misma) tenemos un clásico artículo de Amado Alonso (“Verdad y fantasía de la novela histórica”) y otro de Rubio Cremades sobre Los bandos de Castilla; pero es Carnero quien dedica un texto (“Apariciones, delirios, coincidencias”) a las apariciones y sucesos mágicos en estas obras. Según Carnero, lo fantástico queda limitado en la novela histórica romántica española a lo maravilloso psicológico reducido a la razón, con lo que las apariciones de fantasmas y espíritus quedan rápidamente explicadas de forma racional, restando todo misterio fantástico a estos elementos de la trama y la realidad de la novela queda constreñida en los límites aparentes de lo aventurero histórico más objetivo, dentro de una concepción de objetividad informativa arqueológica y fantasía histórica hermanadas en una síntesis (Alonso) en la que las anacronías históricas que permiten una mejor acomodación novelesca constituyen el único rasgo de fantasía aplicado a esta novela, dejando muy al margen de la buscada verosimilitud burguesa los elementos puramente fantásticos que, sin duda, podrían haber enriquecido lo imaginativo de este tipo de creación romántica. Quizás la tradición, autores y público no eran capaces de concebir tal cosa. No obstante, hay un elemento que Walter Scott –cuya influencia es decisiva en el nacimiento de este tipo de novela en España– había introducido como característico: la inclusión de magos o brujas en sus novelas, dotando de cierto ambiente mágico algunas de sus escenas, pero sin alcanzar aún el grado de lo gótico. Así, imitando su magisterio, en la novela histórica española no podrán faltar.