John Guastaferro is an American magician and guitarist. He has also written a book which was chosen as “Book of the Year” on The Magic Café titled “One Degree.”

This is an exceptional book, with nothing but positive reviews and feedback.

You can download a free sample here at Vanishing Inc.

How did John Guastaferro get into magic?

Let’s start of course, at the very beginning – how he became interested in MAGIC.

In John’s own words…

“Back in that day, the TV specials were of Doug Henning on TV.

And it’s a really small household just my mom and I and no siblings.

And I think in many ways, I was always drawn to something creative, whether it be art, or in this case, magic, and something really caught my eye.

I know Doug Henning was doing a lot of you know, fun and whimsical illusions, which I thought were great.

But it’s when he kind of slowed down and he made a nickel vanish in his hand that it really drew me in and I didn’t know at the time that this was a john Cornelius effect.

All I knew is that it was just so pure. And I just wanted to dive in more, so from that point on, I would read every book I could.

There really wasn’t a magic shop nearby, it was in Huntington Park California.

But there’s like a gag costume semi magic shop nearby called (thinks) fun city and I liked it. It had all that typical stuff, right?

The fake thumb with the blood on it, and the squirting nickel and all that stuff, but they also had a few magic tricks.

And I would just get my hands and everything I could and Yeah! I think Joshua j put it well, when time where a lot of kids get into magic, but some of us become students of magic, right?

It wasn’t far after that, where I became a student of magic.

And you know, we just, we didn’t have like YouTube or anything back then.

But I would just, you know, get books any way I could and then I would have my mom pick up things from Hollywood Magic on her way home from work because she worked in LA.

The rest is history.”

How did John Guastaferro get into music?

John is also an accomplished guitarist with several top-rated albums. Specialising in Jazz, Flamenco, and Spanish guitar, John’s music creates the perfect rhythmic backdrop to captivate guests.

In John’s own words…

“Honestly, I didn’t even know that I had a musical bone in my body, to be honest. I mean, it wasn’t until like, 17 years old till I got to the guitar, which is late to kind of master an instrument. I guess like many people in Qatar was hanging out my friend’s house, and he played. So, he taught me how to play Stairway to Heaven, you know, and then I ended up putting a few dollars together and buying just a cheap guitar, and again, like anything, I just stayed with it. I just put as many hours as I could into it. I think the dexterity that I had in my hands for the magic certainly helped me, you know, progressing faster.”

Up to this point, we have seen John Guastaferro’s interest in guitar and magic spark. BUT there is even more to the story. The future is ALWAYS changing and sometimes we don’t know what to expect. The same thing happened with Guastaferro. He continues…

“I wish I could have foreseen the future. I mean, I’m glad about the future that came about, but I had no idea where it would lead. But at that time being in college was a priority. Magic was important to me and music became important to me, and these were still passions of mine but I didn’t look at magic or music as any sort of career or anything when I went into college. I was really artistic as well. I’ve always loved drawing and art – oil painting. And you know, these days, I do a lot of pencil sketches and graphic design, too. So, I went into college as an Architecture Major.”

“The first couple of years, I liked it, I really did, but when it got into the very kind of technical structure, math stuff, it wasn’t as appealing to me. And so, I took a step back my third year, and just took a lot of classes. I took classes in graphic design, in fine arts, and music. And then when I took a business class, there was a good click. (Because I really have this kind of left brain and right brain thing going on.) I really liked strategy, as well, and I think one of my teachers just saw that in me. So, I majored in marketing, specifically in Business Administration with a specialization in marketing. And I always thought, okay, like, being a creative director, you know, in advertising, that’s something that I think that could appeal to both my creative side, and my, my business side. So anyway, I was very well aware of the creative interest I had. And I just was kind of open to it. It was six years in college, because I took a year just to take some classes and just be open to it, and everything. So that was my journey there.”

This wasn’t always an easy journey and John Guastaferro explains that it was only in the last 10 years that he shifted from feeling scattered, “like being pulled in different directions” to realised “Wait a minute, there’s a reason why I’m pulled in all these seemingly different directions, but they’re actually all going in the same direction.” Guastaferro says “It took me YEARS to land on this”.

Why Magic?

John Guastaferro’s answer to why he and all of us should study magic:

We asked Guastaferro in the podcast, “What do you find meaningful about magic? And why do you put all of your time into solving magical problems as opposed to solving some greater good social problems?”

“I mean, they’re all interwoven, you know, and they’re in there. And there are different beautiful things about each.

You know, I often give motivational talks as well, where I weave it all together, you know, and I often say, like, in philanthropy, I’m having the opportunity to turn the impossible into the possible, you know, I mean, there are families that may be suffering in the community that I live in, and I lead a local foundation.

And, for example, we provide a lot of grants during this pandemic and helping people that are hungry. And, and really, these are impossible circumstances that we help become possible, you know, and in magic, we make it look that way.

So, in many ways, it’s much more powerful in actually doing that work. But I also think it heightens the beauty of magic because I think, you know, in magic, my view is that it’s not really about pulling an ace out of your pocket, or whatever.

I mean, those are beautiful moments and fun, enjoyable moments, but I think it also leaves an audience with an extra feeling that you know, if that’s possible, maybe anything is possible. So I think there’s a gift in that that we’re giving when we perform magic.”

More from John…

If you’d like to hear more from John, one of the first places you can go is The Daily Magician Podcast:

This exclusive interview features:

• How he uses magic in keynote speeches and why it’s such a powerful tool.

• The power of being on stage (and why you should assume that everyone is ready to be inspired)

• The exact 4 sentence ‘mantra’ John recites before every performance

• How to be a great public speaker (John’s top tips)

• Why being an ‘expert’ does not necessarily make you a good speaker (and why speaking is about so much more than reciting facts)

• Why John Guastaferro believes that knowledge is in fact NOT power (and what real power is)

• The three things John believes you need to be successful in business

• The power of smiling (and why you should do it constantly)

• Why calling your performance an ‘act’ is an incomplete definition (and how you should think about it instead)

Go take a listen to our podcast!!! 

You can also check out his latest masterclass here:

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/masterclass/john-guastaferro-masterclass-live/

The Daily Magician Tapes:

HARDWIRE your brain with the best magic!

Dear friend,

Have you ever wished to put yourself in the ‘minds’ of the very best magicians?

Our ‘Daily Magician Tapes’ product is a collection of exclusive interviews with the world’s best magicians, that go one step beyond our podcast, ‘Of Sleights and Men.’

You see, usually, after we’ve finished the main recording for our episode, we get into a section that’s truly ‘buyers ears only.’

When we tell the artists, these segments are going to be hidden behind a paywall, the most miraculous thing happens:

The true secrets come out.

(there’s some stuff we simply can’t make public knowledge…)

We find it hard to imagine ANYONE listening to these audio interviews and not coming out the other side a better magician.

Even better, these tapes are available for as little as $0.50. YOU get to choose what you pay for them.

You can pick them up at the link below:

https://thedailymagician.thrivecart.com/the-daily-magician-tapes-new/

Seize the day,

Your friends,

Benji & Jacob

Today is a great day because we’re talking all about Roberto Giobbi and as the author of the post! I’m happy to tell you that I’ve met the guy! So I can tell you from personal experience that everything you’ve heard is true!

(and if you want to hear our exclusive podcast with Roberto Giobbi -well over an hour-long- you can head here)…

“Of Sleights and Men”

Unless it was negative… In that case, it was false…

To start this one off I wanted to go for something a little different from some of my other posts.

I wanted to start by quoting the man himself.

So here are 4 of his MOST FAMOUS QUOTES:

(Make sure to take the time to ponder over each one of them, otherwise, you’re sure to miss something, I know I always do!)

1: “The worst reason to do magic is the desire to display your superiority to your fellow humans.”

2: “Make things better than they have to be.”

3: “Take a favourite trick of yours and write a ‘gestures script’ how could you improve clarity [using gestures].”

4: “Pausing a few beats allows the spectators time to savor the experience of the miracle that has just occurred.”

Well… I think you can tell just from those quotes the calibre of magician that we’re talking about! However, just-in-case that wasn’t enough here’s a full bio I pulled from Roberto Giobbi’s website itself (https://www.robertogiobbi.com/site)

Roberto Giobbi History/Profile:

(In Roberto Giobbi’s own words from https://www.robertogiobbi.com/site)

I was born in Basle, Switzerland, on the 1st of May 1959, from Italian parents who emigrated from Piedmont. Although I started in High School with mathematics and natural sciences, I soon found out that my talents were in languages, so went to the University of Basel to study literature and linguistics.

This was an unintentional smart move, because it ultimately made me fluent in six languages, which turned out to be a great asset when in 1988, after winning FISM for the first time (1991 would be the second time), I turned professional. At that time there were only two or three people in Switzerland doing magic professionally; now, almost 30 years later, there are dozens, and several tell me that I inspired them to take that step. In 1990 the MRS (Magischer Ring der Schweiz) held their first national competition, and as the winner of all categories I was the very first to received their Grand Prix. This reminds me of a comment my friend Pit Hartling made after one of my lectures: “You speak like an old man, without being one.”

Author and Lecturer

In the announcement to his Genii Bash Convention in 2012 Richard Kaufman wrote: “Roberto has become one of the most sought-out voices on magic and his lectures have grown near legendary.” This certainly pleased me, because studying the underpinnings of magic, treating it as an academic discipline besides as an art, has always captured my fancy.

I’ve started giving lectures at an early age, with much innocence and naiveté, but always with lots of passion and enthusiasm. A recent count revealed that I’ve given more than fifty completely different lectures in the past forty years, mostly on specific topics. This won’t even include the many presentations I’ve given on the occasion of the Jornadas Cartomagicas de El Escorial, the yearly get-together of the Escuela Magica de Madrid. The latter was founded by Juan Tamariz, together with Ascanio, in Madrid in 1971, inspired by André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto and to this day remains magic’s only Think Tank. I’ve been one of only forty members since ca. 1980 and am glad I could contribute over decades to their superb magazine La Circular.

In the meantime I’ve written essays and columns for over fifty magic magazines, of which fourteen consecutive years for Genii.

Most readers will probably know me for my five volumes of Card College, which have quite unintentionally become the most widely translated magic books in history. However, my heart is also attached to the several other books, which carry in them a part of myself. Meanwhile I face the reality of having over 80 publications to my credit, including their translation into eight languages; this comprises a few electronic works, such as E-books and DVDs, with quite a few more in preparation.

Performer

Although as of today I wish I could make a living from writing, lecturing and coaching, But, alas, not even being one of the few best-selling authors in magic allows this. I still enjoy performing very much, due to my linguistic talents mostly for an international clientele, and as such have visited over 50 countries around the globe. I’m glad I’ve always made it a point that my clients pay one or two extra nights, so I could see the place, visit with local magicians and enjoy a good meal in town, gastronomy being one of my interests.

Part of my life was captured in “Il giardino dei giochi segreti”, a 50-minutes documentary by Swiss TV, and you can find it on the Internet. As part of my work for laypeople I also give interdisciplinary talks and workshops for industry managers on creativity, communication, and presentation. However, I feel particularly honored that magicians from China, the New World and all over Europe are now coming to seek out my advice and taking coaching lessons.

Meaning of Magic

Awards to me have always had a subordinate importance, but they have told me that I’m on the right track, and they’ve been a true encouragement to pursue a path, which requires a lot of work and dedication, without really being financially rewarding. In this sense, I was pleased when in 2012 the Academy of Magical Arts in Los Angeles gave me their Literary Fellowship, along with a lifetime membership of their uniquely wonderful Magic Castle, and in 2014 the prestigious Magic Circle of London bestowed upon me their John Nevil Maskelyne Award for Literature. Recently, in 2015, at the FISM World Congress of Magic in Rimini, they gave me their lifetime achievement award for “Theory & Philosophy”.

Dai Vernon used to say that in order to become good at anything, you have to devote your life to it. When at age fourteen I pulled that magic book from the public library’s shelf, and immediately fell in love with magic, I certainly didn’t realize that this was the door to my future. I have indeed dedicated my life to magic, without ever planning to become what I have become, but maybe because of this, things have turned out fine.

Card College by Roberto Giobbi

Obviously, Roberto Giobbi is famous for his world-renowned series of books called Card College– in fact, if you’ve ever heard of Moritz Mueller that was exactly how he got started in magic! His father (also a magician) gave it to him when he decided to take up magic as a major hobby.

And just to give you an idea of how much of a big deal Card College is, here’s a quote:

“The Card College books are the modern cornerstone of all of card magic.” – Gorden Bruce

Many people debate whether or not it’s better to start with The Royal Road to Card Magic or Card College and in fact, EXCLUSIVE INFO INCOMING Giobbi gave us a definitive answer in an exclusive audio training where he said (paraphrasing): “They don’t even compare, Card College is far superior for anyone learning modern magic.”

In fact, he continued to explain that even when it came down to things such as the correct name for parts of your finger, Card College had The Royal Road thoroughly beat.

And we have to say… here at The Daily Magician we tend to agree with him.

As a matter of fact…

It was ranked NUMBER 1 out of The 100 Books Every Magician Should Read Before They Die…and was mentioned more than any other book on earth when we asked over a hundred magicians what their favourite magic book was!

Here’s a quick description from Roberto’s website on what you can expect to find in just volume one of Card college:

Card College Volume 1 as the first volume in this landmark course sets the groundwork for the rest of the series, beginning with a clear terminology, lessons on the proper ways to hold, deal and shuffle the cards, then progressing through many basic sleights and techniques, including perhaps the most thorough and revealing discussion of the classic force ever offered.

Along with the classics of card magic, Roberto Giobbi includes original ideas and refinements from his own repertoire, guaranteeing every reader, no matter how experienced, fresh techniques and insights into the performance of professional caliber card magic!

Some of the topics covered in Volume One include:

• The Tools of Card Magic
• Fundamental Techniques
• The Overhand Shuffle
• The Riffle Shuffle
• False Cuts
• Transfer Cuts
• Card Controls
• Card Forces
• The Glide
• The Double Lift
• The Hindu Shuffle
• Flourishes
• The Spread Cull
• The Top Change
• The Key Card
• Auxiliary Sleights

Click Here To Buy:

We hung up on Roberto Giobbi?

(This was taken from one of our email on December 24th. For those of you who aren’t aware we operate the fasting growing newsletter in magic. If you aren’t signed up then you better SIGN UP)!

Last week, we had one of the most influential and respected magicians in the world—Roberto Giobbi—on an audio call.

Roberto is the author of the iconic Card College series—the most widely translated series of books in the history of magic.

Well, we were interviewing him for our podcast, Of Sleights and Men.

The only hiccup was…

…our ‘tech stack’ was seriously playing up!

We were midway through asking Roberto a deep, thoughtful question, when he interrupted us with the bone-chilling line:

“I can’t hear you. You’re breaking up.”

For whatever weird reason, the podcasting platform we were using was just having a real rough time of it.

We tried to figure it out between us, but the connection was just too choppy.

There was nothing for it…

…we braced ourselves, and told Roberto we would end this call and start up another one.

Man, that was scary.

We had potentially THE most respected magic author alive on a call with us…and we were hanging up on him??

Sure, he’d given us the go-ahead, but it still felt wrong.

Thankfully, to our absolute relief, our podcasting platform decided to play nice the second time around.

We were so grateful to be back on air with Roberto, that we tried our level best to ask him the most thought-provoking, interesting questions possible.

The result is the latest episode of our podcast—nearly 1 and half hours of fascinating discussion with Roberto Giobbi.

You can listen to this episode of the podcast either via your favorite podcast app. See the links below…

Apple:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/of-sleights-and-men/id1531579762

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1MrIPEo1Xkb3hvMqvc6A6n

Website:

https://thedailymagician.com/roberto-giobbi-podcast

The Daily Magician Tapes:

HARDWIRE your brain with the best magic!

Dear friend,

There’s something I haven’t been telling you…

Have you ever wished to put yourself in the ‘minds’ of the very best magicians?

Our ‘Daily Magician Tapes’ product is a collection of exclusive interviews with the world’s best magicians, that go one step beyond our podcast, ‘Of Sleights and Men.’

You see, usually, after we’ve finished the main recording for our episode, we get into a section that’s truly ‘buyers ears only.’

When we tell the artists, these segments are going to be hidden behind a paywall, the most miraculous thing happens:

The true secrets come out.

(there’s some stuff we simply can’t make public knowledge…)

We find it hard to imagine ANYONE listening to these audio interviews and not coming out the other side a better magician.

Even better, these tapes are available for as little as $0.50. YOU get to choose what you pay for them.

You can pick them up at the link below:

The Daily Magician Tapes:

Whatever you can afford, you pay!

(for as low as $0.50, just enough to cover transaction fees)

Roberto Giobbi Interview Transcript

Just for your pleasure, I decided to upload a brief transcript of the beginning of our podcast with Giobbi! (it was transcribed by a machine so there ARE mistakes…)

Hello, welcome back to Of sleights of men, uh, we’re very excited to have a special guest with us today, um, who I’m sure everyone has heard of. And that I think Benji is going to give, uh, a little brief introduction before we get started. Yeah. And then thankfully, um, I only really need to give a brief introduction because once I say this guy’s name, I’m pretty sure most of your brain’s going to light up and you’ll know exactly who this is.

We’re speaking with, um, gob, uh, who is, um, the author of the current college series. Um, one of the most widely published series of books in magic, definitely the standard for. Approaching and someone say mastering God magic. Um, but that’s not the only work. He has a love of, uh, incredible books. They don’t have switching decks, a secret agenda.

I’m sure we’ll get into some of these with Roberto in a minute. He’s also won Oh, waltz from FISM. The Academy of magical arts is, uh, is pretty much a, uh, how do I say giant in the magic oil world? And we’re very excited to ask him a few questions, um, which I think we’ll get into now. Yeah. So, uh, what’s uh, um, I want it to start quickly.

I saw, I read about how you, you know, you borrowed that book off the, um, the shelf in the library when you were 14 and that kind of started your magic journey, but I was interested, um, you, I read also that you, you, you studied, uh, kind of linguistics right at university. And so I wanted to ask what was the moment you knew, right.

That you needed to do magic full-time. So obviously you’ve gone to university, you’ve done extensive studies, but what, what was the moment where you decided that. Magic needed to be your, your primary passion. Good. You start with a big question. Both of you, Jacob and Benja hello. Everybody who listening to us.

Yes. Well, I certainly at the moment when I was 14 years old and pulled that book out of the public library shelf and looked at that hand with the four billiard balls that’s, uh, opened the door. Uh, to my future, but I did not know. Uh, so when did I know this is, was a progressive thing, because there are different terms for the, are you still with me because this is getting, yeah.

Okay. All right. So, um, uh, I became what you will probably call it a hobbyist. That magic was just, first of all, it was a hobby, very intense hobby. I must say that was a burst here. So when I was 14, 15, 16, 17, I already spent five, six hours a day. At least, at least that’s what my memory, uh, doing all kinds of tricks in these books, you know, that was smaller illusion.

Close up and using cups and cards. It was not yet a specialized with, with cards as an instrument. And then I, I would, you know, maybe when I was 18 or so I had my first, uh, uh, performance, little performance in a church Bazaar. So. I go to the state of maybe of amateur magician still. I would never dream of, uh, earning my life magic then, uh, you were in the, these I already got so, so here in the us, I finished my, what we would call high school at about age 19, uh, government and university, uh, about, uh, what you call college in the U S right.

Like 90, you should the end of nineties. So, uh, and then I get, get some small, serious, uh, um, Performances, you know, which were a little bit better paid. So I could say, I find and start to find finance part of my studies with magic, but still not thinking of doing magic. And then get you get to this part that Jean Anderson call or go call this.

The part-time professional, which is a term I liked a lot. Now I’m sure about it. Uh, as max Maman once said, would you like to have your T’s made by a part-time dentist almost assured by that term, but let’s keep, uh, keep that, keep that term to explain that. Then then in 1984, I finished my studies, which were in linguistics and literature.

In a, in a, in, in a, in a Italian, French, and, um, the English, I already spoke Spanish and German. So I have my five laptop. That’s right. So I stopped that’s when I started to work in a software company until 1988 and in 1986. That was two years into that job. I was, uh, uh, I was with a sunny, uh, software company who was a market leader at that time.

It was called Autodesk and they, they were the inventors of AutoCAD, which a few of our listeners will know is still. Must still be one of the leading cat com uh software’s you know, drawings. Yeah. At that time it was two dimensional then. Uh, and that’s when I first went to my boss in 86 and said, well, uh, Rudolph, that was his name.

I think I have to quit. Uh, because I, you know, I, I think I need to do magic. And he said, well, why don’t you stay with. For four days instead of five days. So you have an extra day in your, during the week and we can leave you when you have to go to conventions and have weekly make arrangements. So it stayed another two years and, uh, Yeah.

So th that was quite transitional, isn’t it? So it was not a decision from one day to the 1988. I participated at Faisal in the Hague and, uh, I’d won a prize in, uh, in card magic. And that, you know, in the small country of Switzerland, it’s easier. Yeah, no about you. So I got into, uh, The most important Saturday evening TV show.

Uh, it was not enough to make me famous because at that time it was already a lot of TV channels. So. The time was over, you know, 10 years before or 15 years before in Switzerland, there were only two TV channels. You went on to a show. You will be his famous next day, 98, 88. It was not, but, but it did. Uh, deter make me, you know, increase my determination.

And I went again and I said, well, I have to go. He said, all I knew, and that was the, do you know where I still have the option? You know, I still said, well, how is it going? You know, because you can never know when you do this fantastic step in hindsight, it’s not, but at the moment, and I have a safe job earning for my age, a very good salary, or than, than most of my colleagues who had finished the study with me.

I was just lucky though, because not because I was good, it was just, I was lucky because it was the software. Seeing which at that time, you know, like eight floppy disks and the handbook for $8,000,

it was quite incredible. So, so I said, well, even if I don’t get one, uh, one performance, one gig

for a year, I can still make a comfortable living. And then they will take me back, you know, because I was. Good enough with what I was doing. And I like let people like me, but the moment I made that step, I really never looked back. And that’s now what’s that? That’s now 33 years, right? 88, 21 that’s uh, 33 years.

And, uh, I’ve started out as just performing. And then I started to do it, you know, being interested into academically in magic about, uh, you know, it’s 90% below the ice, you know, the iceberg, if you look from outside, you see 10%, but if you are in the profession, You’re you’re busy with the 90% underneath people.

Don’t see. So I’ve already at that time, but I didn’t have that metaphor. I was interested in that. So I started to do two the lectures or the copy too. So I started to writing to write a few articles, you know, for magazine. The first lecture though, my first book was that in 86, I think in German. Um, what’s called cart.

Perfect tip. Cause at that time it wasn’t software. You might remember, but maybe you’re too young. It was called word. Perfect. You remember that? There was a software like word today though, but it was a desktop, the desktop publishing, uh, just, uh, How do you call it the writing software? You know, like, yeah.

So it was called effect and it had this peculiar spelling with capital w and dub capital P work. Yeah. So I sold, I buy, I write the book called cart. Perfect. I like it. It’s just an additional 500. That was my first book. Yeah. Wow. That was a long question to show that.

No, it’s interesting. I had no idea you’d worked in a software company. What was your cause? It’s not quite what your mind jumps to when you think of robots. Adobe is a software company, but, but now you’ve got an interested, what was your role in the software company? Because it seems like going from linguistics and literature to software is an interest in germs.

Yeah, the thing is even more curious if you think that, uh, I had no talent whatsoever for natural sciences and math and chemistry and physics and I, my college was mathematical natural science. Saying, you know, which was between I sort of wasted of my time. I really never understood really most of the things they will be telling me I was very good at languages.

So, uh, but that was the, the wrong high school. But at the end of the high school, uh, I picked up this linguistics study, which of course was very difficult because at that time that has changed now, but you required Latin as that. Re and Latin and I did not have it because I had this, uh, thing, uh, this mathematical.

Right. Well sciences. So I have to pick up Latin again. And, um, and then for some reason I changed it to translate through and interpret the school and just finished my studies there. So in the software company, I did the translation. So that was it wasn’t because in an area that was not familiar to me, however, practically everybody in that company.

Well, it’s not familiar with that because at that time, you know, we talked to Nate, 84, very few people have the clue. Uh, it was an up and coming business. Cat cam was, they all came in. Even the programmers had no idea about that. They have to learn, everybody was learning. Everyone was learning a different sort of language.

Right. So I was concerned with translation. My first job was to translate the darn thing from, from English to. Two German. Of course, you know, the, the instruct the handbook was all red, black screen pages. That’s a very specialized vocabulary as well. It’s when you, you know, you come from your studies, your studies like six years, almost all the thing.

And then you are, you’re there like in a desert and you say, God, this is, I have to learn everything from scratch. These words exist them. I have to make up. You know, we ate the terminology.

The, you know, my books, I called college, uh, being translated in Korean and Japanese and Chinese and my Chinese publisher TCC said, well, we have to invent some signs because if you take the. The one, actually the Japanese, any of the Asian languages additions, you will have proper names. Like , uh, recommend that in Latin letters and not letters.

So I’m not in day or in their own writing because they don’t exist. So that’s, that’s very funny, but when I received, I think it was the Korean translation. I find I found 21 typos and I write back and I said, I found 21 tighter. So the guys thinks, but you’re joking. You can’t read our language in the proper names, you know, in the title

thought I wouldn’t be surprised you did just then around unsafe. Yeah. So to answer your question. Yes, I was, uh, I was doing the, the linguistic part of, yeah. Yeah. When I left at 19, when I came in, we were seven people. And when I left in 1988, we were 90 people, this to the back. Wow. So you were writing on the top, you understand how much more difficult it was for me to leave?

So it was really. Not a decision, uh, where you, you know, if you get hassled and your job is lousy and you get a little pay, it’s easier. I quit. But every seat was very good and I quit nonetheless. So, uh, that’s, uh, that’s the best move I made in my life. But again, you know, I’m being asked by so many young, younger people.

And now it’s with 61, you know, I’ve been asked a lot in the past decades, should they become a professional and things like that. Right? Cause that’s, that’s a difficult thing to answer because it’s, the economies are so different. Uh, as we know, uh, in every country, So, did you become a professional in the USA or become a professional in Finland or become a professional in Switzerland is a

I don’t know which country you pick, you know, can be a totally different thing. But we are in a totally different topic, but that’s what is nice about magic? It’s so incredibly network, they have a metaphor for magic is that’s like a, uh, a diamond, you know, diamond, diamond has faceted facets facets. Yes.

Yes. Every facet of the diamond links to a topic of real life. And it’s really, we talk about anything and we will find that it reflects itself, you know, that this topic be it architecture of psychology filmmaking or whatever you like is reflected in magic and magic is reflected in those, uh, topics as well.

You know, it’s like, uh, the fractals. The moms abroad set, you know, the fractals were one element of the fractal contains the whole advice in infinitely. Yeah, I love that. Actually. That was one of the quotes that I’ve actually wanted to bring up with you. So thank you so much for jumping the gun with me on that one.

I actually, I have a quote from you right here. Yeah. And it’s basically what you just said, and I wanted to actually want to ask you about it. Cause I think it’s super interesting. You said I’ve come to appreciate the magic is like a multifaceted diamond. Every facet connects to a discipline of life, regardless of whether you look at other arts, psychology, sociology.

Uh, the craft SKUs denomination, gardening architectures teaching, or have you, it is reflected in magic, similar to a fractal, like you said, the reflects a pattern of the whole in every detail. So I thought that was a beautiful quote. Um, and I wanted to know kind of. Um, can you elaborate basically? I mean, I don’t know much that might make it easier for both.

So if I phrase it this way, so one of the things we’d like to do when we have the guests on is, um, we asked them about, uh, maybe a hobby of theirs or a pursuit in their life that. They, uh, has nothing to do with magic, you know, so when we had Andy Gladwin on the other week, we asked him about his career in programming.

Um, and let me ask, is this, you picked up while you were doing programming that you’ve been able to help give you this kind of unique advantage in the way you approach magic. So we’re both, you know, we’ve talked a little bit about linguistics, uh, academia, philosophy, translation. Um, we could go into any one of those, but let’s say for example, translation.

Is there anything that you learned by the process of translation that then when it came to any aspect of my Greek word, rich write new books, you know, translate an ideas real mind onto the paper performance, you know, stuff you were able to borrow from that I think, um, in harmony with the quote you just use before you really learn something from everything and from translating, of course, it’s, uh, um, You learn the academic approach.

First of all, that’s an advantage if you, if you go to the college that is looking at the taxonomy, looking that things have categories and subcategories and sub sub categories and that they need to be named. So there is terminology. So that certainly is something, but that’s. Independent of the subject use you studying the particular thing of, of linguistics of course, is that it has to do with interpretation.

So you use is a way of, uh, actually when you, when you, uh, when you were writing translation, let’s say you have a, you have an expression, typically are metaphorical expressions. If you say the English says, this is not my cup of tea, the Germans would have say, this is not my beer. Right. Okay. So you urea you realize that, uh, and this reflects itself in, for instance, in humor.

If, if, if you are using a line in your. In your, in Iraq and you change culture, or you do it in another language at the same line might not get the same reaction that LA because totally different connection. People have emotional and cultural way to this, uh, to this particular line. So the translation of teaches you that, uh, Every reality, the person creates in his mind is a personal one and does not necessarily coincide with the truth.

Which is actually what we are doing when we are doing matching. You know, if I trapped a Corrine in my left hand using a French drop or something, I know exactly what I’m doing. I have a reality, but the reality I have to construct in the spectators mind is a completely different one, which would be.

Eventually lead or we hope so lead them across the rainbow to use another metaphor by Tamariz or leads them into Wonderland or across the mirror, whichever metaphor you want to use. And that’s of course that’s also a translation, right? Because you have translation is transformation. A transformation is the basis of, uh, of.

Of everything of every moment you perceive, you hear or see something, you are transforming it, you’re translating it in your mind because you want to understand it, that create the reality. So you see, you would get into actual psycholinguistic, which is a specialized branch of linguistics, but really it’s a, yeah.

So at that time, and of course the best thing was that, uh, That of course having access or mastering six languages gave me access professionally speaking to many types of shows. All those could not do, but you imagine you have a Swiss bank Russ with chemistry car, uh, enterprise. They would, they would have an international convention as very hard to, uh, A book, a dance band because 95%, I think still nowadays are men.

So it couldn’t dance. There was very difficult to book a comedian because a comedian would speak. You know, and then so most people wouldn’t understand it because they come from from different parts of the world and I could do what, uh, well, corporal Tassie has done before me very successfully, or Danny Ray do mom, my show in five languages.

So that, that was a very practical, uh, coincidence in a way that gift they was given. Because I did the studies.

Conclusion

There truly isn’t much to say other than that we affirm that this man is the living legend people prescribe him to be!

Go check out his work and make sure to learn at the feet of a living Magic Master!

Our hats go off to you for all your work Roberto Giobbi and as one, we thank you 🙂

Moritz Mueller: The Mozart of Magic? (Introduction)

Well, we’re back in a big way my friends to talk about the one the only: MOZART OF MAGIC!

Now…

Here at The Daily Magician, we’re very proud to have coined that tagline and in fact, the first time Moritz ever heard it was on our podcast which you can find here…

“Of Sleights and Men“

But! You’re probably not here for that… – although you should be it was a great podcast 😉 –

No, you’re probably here to hear all about the child prodigy and german legend who calls himself: Moritz Mueller!!

So, just to ‘wet your appetite’ lets read a few quotes together about the man:

“This guy is sick, been looking for a way to get into coins.”

“Amazing! This young man is on his way to the top.”

“This kid is incredible. The energy he displays while sharing his techniques is refreshing and truly inspiring.”

And finally a quote from Pit Hartling himself:

“räumt immer noch das Chaos auf, das er auf meinem Sofa hinterlassen hat … 10/10 Magier”

(okay maybe I made that one up)!

Moritz Mueller breaks onto the magic scene at age 14!

It was this video that went viral when Moritz was just 14 that started it all!

Now… We’ve seen plenty of kids do magic, but when this video hit the magic scene it was met by a genuine appreciation for Moritz’s mastery of the art.

His touch was something else… And his performance confident and displaying his famous “Mueller Smile.”

His next time in the limelight was here on the huge Ellen Show:

How did Moritz Mueller start magic?

I personally found Moritz Mueller’s story on how he began magic extremely interesting! Because it highlights a few key points that I will discuss afterward…

…now as much as I’m tempted to try and recall Moritz’s story from memory, I thought it best that he simply tell the story himself.

So here it is straight from the beginning of The Of Sleights and Men podcast:

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this up using a piece of software that transcribes audio to text and my own listening ears… So it’s not perfect! Feel free to help me with corrections in the comments below.

Jacob: So it’s, obviously you know, it’s the cliche question, but we always have to ask it. So I guess, I saw on the Ellen show that you said you were 14 on that, right? And on that, you said you started two years ago. So I’m guessing that you started magic at 12.

Moritz Mueller: That is correct.

Jacob: So how did it all begin? What happened?

Moritz Mueller: “So my dad is a magician as well. And, but I never really got interested in for some reason, like my brother, my older brother used to, like make my sister float on stage when he was like, No, like, five, six years old or something.”

“But to me, normal family. Yeah, but he sort of dropped it. At some point. It was just like he likes to say was like this faze where he just like, did what he was told. But you never. Like you wouldn’t say it was like his favorite thing or like a huge hobby.”

“And I just never really got interested in it for some reason. But then on my 12th birthday, I invited some friends over and they were like, oh, I heard your Dad’s a magician. That’s crazy. And that was like, you know, whatever. I know. Because it was always around. It’s like this thing that your dad does. So it’s like normal to you, right? But then my friends asked to see something and my dad would like show them a couple of things. And that moment, I really began to like it because it was the first time I sort of solid through someone else’s eyes, you know? Yeah. And I just like asked my dad for some resources. And yeah, I just like never get bored of the subject ever since.”

Benji: “That’s interesting, so when most people start magic at a young age, they get given like a, you know, like a magic kit. And maybe there’s some corny kind of stuff in there. Although, you know, some of it’s pretty interesting but no, I don’t go too deep in this here, but I’ve talked about how magic kits, you know, I’m not even gonna do this right now, let’s not. All I’m was gonna say there’s some good stuff in magic kits, and it’s, it’s kind of interesting. It taps into, the essence of the way magic is perceived because it’s the most sort of common gateway into magic. So you kind of have to distill it down into this one little product.”

“Anyhow, my main point that I completely got sidetracked from is: most people get a magic kit. I’m guessing if you’re Dad was a magician, instead of giving you a magic kit he was more like, Alright, here’s greater magic now go read like every page, or was it more of a general sort of a step by step approach?

Moritz Mueller: “Actually he gave me card college. And I just started reading that. But then pretty soon I searched and just transitioned to coin magic. Because I just it was just so, so fascinating to me. He taught me a French drop, right? And it was insane to me how many subtleties go into making that deceptive, right, like something as simple as not really putting a coin in your head, which most people like even know as a method.”

“Right? Like, most people don’t do it incredibly well, like people like to think they know the method. It’s probably something your Grandpa showed you at some point. But all the little subtleties that go into that, that make it really deceptive. Like, where you look how you shift your body weight, the timing of it all. And that was just so fascinating to me. So yeah, that was sort of why I fell in love with coin magic.”

Moritz Mueller On Card vs Coin Magic

Well! Whenever we have a coin magician on the show, we usually like to ask them about the age old debate of card vs coin magic…

Now you’d probably have expected that Mortiz was strongly in the coin section of magicians right?

Well actually… Wrong…

Don’t believe me? Well, here are his own words on the subject!

Moritz Mueller: “But if I had to pick coin or card magic, I would say I would pick card magic. It was about two, three years ago, that my opinion started to change because then I always sort of did card magic a little bit as well like next to the coin stuff. And I really started focusing on about two, three years ago.”

“Because in card magic, there were just like a little bit more options that you have, like both in terms of method and in terms of presentation, right. And I think it boils down to just the amount of information contained within your Prop, right, because a coin is either there or it isn’t Yeah, or it’s copper, or it’s silver, those are the main coins, right? With cards, there are amounts of cards, there’s the value of cards, there are back designs of cards, there’s the suit, and there’s stuff you can remember.”

“There are so many objects that you can even do stuff like oh, I tried to find it in this mess, you know, and they have an orientation for trying for aces or something. So I think there are just a lot more effects possible. Whereas in coin magic, to me is really about just like refining the simplest of effects, like great vanish sequences, great traveling the sequence, maybe a really good wild coin, and you pretty much if you have like a very good version of each of those like you are a really good combination already. So whereas, you know, the whole world of card magic seems to be a bit more diverse.

Moritz Mueller Divulges All In This Exclusive Audio Training ONLY AVAILABLE at The Daily Magician

In this exclusive segment, we discuss:

• The one misdirection tool most magicians don’t use enough (that will also make you a better person)
• Moritz’ top 5 favourite magic books of all time (and the lessons he learned from them)
• Why Pit Hartling’s books are such essential reading for magicians
• An explanation of the Pit Hartling subtlety that I use in so many of my best effects (it’s pure genius)
• How to perform a ‘Shuffled Card At Any Number’ effect that, according to Moritz, looks very similar to a routine by the great Denis Behr
• A difficult but very fooling approach to performing the ‘Weighing the Cards’ effect (if you have any questions about this one, just shoot me an email and I’ll happily clarify it)
• How Moritz met Juan Tamariz the first time
• Mortiz’ hilarious story about the first time he attended the famed ‘Spanish School’ meetup
• How Moritz met David Williamson (and why you should listen VERY carefully whenever Dave speaks)

These tapes also include exclusive interviews from Danny Goldsmith and Dr. Rubinstien.

The Daily Magician Tapes:

Moritz Mueller’s Latest Releases!

(taken from the ellusionist)

At 18, Moritz Mueller is a coin magic phenom and already one of the most experienced coin workers in the world.

No one person has ever made such an impact with a single coin.

Mueller introduces you to the ingenious world of ‘ReTURNtion’, a cutting-edge technique that will perfect your retention vanish in one simple step.

Haven’t learned the retention vanish yet? That’s actually better, you’ll have no bad habits to get over.

Once you learn the technique, you can apply the mechanics to:

The Pop Production
The Wave Production
The Perfect Switch
Color Changes
Bonus Vanishes and Productions taught

REVAMP THE RETENTION

LINK FOUND BELOW:

ReTURNtion

The Daily Magician Tapes:

HARDWIRE your brain with the best magic!

Dear friend,

Have you ever wished to put yourself in the ‘minds’ of the very best magicians?

Our ‘Daily Magician Tapes’ product is a collection of exclusive interviews with the world’s best magicians, that go one step beyond our podcast, ‘Of Sleights and Men.’

You see, usually, after we’ve finished the main recording for our episode, we get into a section that’s truly ‘buyers ears only.’

When we tell the artists, these segments are going to be hidden behind a paywall, the most miraculous thing happens:

The true secrets come out.

(there’s some stuff we simply can’t make public knowledge…)

We find it hard to imagine ANYONE listening to these audio interviews and not coming out the other side a better magician.

Even better, these tapes are available for as little as $0.50. YOU get to choose what you pay for them.

You can pick them up at the link below:

The Daily Magician Tapes:

Conclusion

Well, that’s all for today on Mortiz Mueller! He was an absolute pleasure to talk to and is certainly going to be one of the biggest names in the industry as magic moves towards!

Watch this place, because I’m sure they’ll be far more Mortiz Mueller content coming our way 😉

Have you ever wanted to learn a card stack? Well if so, this post is for you!

HERE we will discuss what a card stack is, the different types of card stacks and their uses, and how to learn a card stack along with our top 3 card stacks. 

So let’s begin!

P.S…below you will find a link to our wildly successful and DESPERATELY sought-out app called ‘Master any Stack’ (an app that not only introduces teaches you the method BUT also makes learning stacks as easy as making baked beans on toast). 

What is a Card Stack? 

Card stacks are an advanced card magic technique that enables you to perform astonishing magic routines with ease.

We recommend learning a reliable card stack in order to open up a whole new world of magic for you! AND these techniques on how to learn a card stack, are a great way to take your card magic to the ‘next level!’

Something to note as we dive into things is, there are two main types of card stacks.

The first type is sequential meaning the stack follows a set sequence over and over again.

This can also be referred to as ‘cyclic’ for the same reason; the stack follows a cycle. Sequential card stacks are generally easier to learn. 

A few examples of this are the Si Stebbins (a numeric progression) and Eight Kings (a rhyming mnemonic progression). The purpose of a sequential stack is providing an effective compromise between the ease of determining the next – and previous – cards in the stack while at the same time having the stack appear to be a random assortment of cards. 

The second type is a memorized stack.

A memorized stack or otherwise known as a memorized deck is one in which you simply know the position of every card and the numerical name of the card at any location. These decks are more randomized and they don’t really follow a set pattern or ‘cycle’. However, memorized decks enable you to perform a larger quantity of tricks than sequential stacks.

Ok so now that we have learned a little more about card stacks, you may be asking what is the best card stack? 

Well… for the answer we have decided to review our top 3 choices

1. Mnemonica Stack
2. Si Stebbins Stack
3. Aronson Stack

The Best Card Stacks: Our Top 3…

1. Mnemonica Stack

The Mnemonica Stack is one of the most famous stacks in all of card magic.  It was invented by the legendary Spanish magician Juan Tamariz. While it’s not particularly easy to learn, the Mnemonica Stack has many benefits that allow you to perform a wide variety of routines, many designed by Tamariz himself. 

So why learn the Mnemonica Stack?

Great question!

The Mnemonica Stack is great for learning the location of every card in the deck. This means that you will know the EXACT location of any card that is named and placed back and shuffled a certain way. You can know where a card is without even having it be seen or glimpsed. AND you can know how far down a card is in a deck for tricks such as ACAAN. 

2. Si Stebbens Stack

Second, we have the Si Sebbens Stack. This stack is undoubtedly one of the most popular card stacks and for a good reason. The Si Stebbins Stack was originally created by magician Si Stebbins and is a classic sequential stack.

The stack follows the popular ‘CHaSeD’ order (Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds). 

One thing to note about the Si Sebbens Stack is that in order to use this stack practically, it will take some ‘mental maths’ which can be a deal-breaker for some magicians (the last thing some of us want to do under pressure is performed math right?!) BUT learning this stack can be very beneficial overall!

The Si Stebbins Stack is very reliable and is used quite heavily by professional magicians around the world. 

3. Aronson Stack

Last but not least we have the Aronson Stack. This particular card stack is not cyclic so it may take a little bit longer to learn but we wouldn’t mention it if it wasn’t worth the time. The benefit of learning the Aronson Stack is that the result is worth every bit of effort you put into it. 

The Aronson Stack was created by Simon Aronson. He has devised HUNDREDS of powerful effects that can only be performed by using this exact stack! On the surface, this stack may look like a regular shuffled deck since there are no patterns that a spectator could spot and that is what makes this stack worthwhile! 

If you would like more information on the Aronson Stack feel free to CLICK HERE (LINK TO BLOG POST: https://thedailymagician.com/the-aronson-stack#5 )

So we’ve talked about the different stacks, now let’s get into a few recommendations on how to get started on the learning process. 

Here are a few book recommendations to get you started!

Our Book Recommendations:

1: Mnemonica

First is the book Mnemonica by Juan Tamariz. This phenomenal book reveals concepts and routines that you wouldn’t have realised existed using the Mnemonica stack. 

This book is one of the best-selling magic books of all time! Many magicians recognize its brilliant combination of practical training and mind-blowing routines. 

CLICK HERE for more information!

2. BOUND TO PLEASE

If you are looking for something less Mnemonica Stack and more Aronson Stack, we highly recommend the book Bound to Please written by the man himself, Simon Aronson. And what is a better way to learn? 

Aronson’s book is a perfect introduction to working with stacked decks. It contains incredible memorized deck effects and ideas, although the actual pure memorization method it uses isn’t one we recommend. 

CLICK HERE for more information on Simon Aronson’s, Bound to Please!

3. THE MEMORY ARTS  

The last book we’d recommend checking out is the book, The Memory Arts by Sarah and David Trustman. This book is a tried and tested method that many magicians have had success with. 

This book presents a new and exciting way to learn complex stacks in record time!

CLICK HERE for more information on The Memory Arts!

~ BONUS TRAINING ~

While we have talked about many wonderful books here is one that we HIGHLY recommend for working with card stacks (or otherwise known as memorized decks.)

This book is called the Memorized Deck Starter Pack. This course will show you an elegant method to memorize as many decks as you want, by doing the same amount of work (OR LESS) than required by other memory methods. 

If you are interested in this training, CLICK HERE for more information!!

P.S. If this offer is no longer available then head over to home page and join our email list. You’ll start getting daily emails from us. But keep a close eye out…Every now and then we throw in offers for our exclusive memorised deck training and only the very patient and scrupulous magicians will gain access to it, and fly miles ahead of the competition into the small circle of the elite…

Seize the day…

Join our Newsletter:

If you want to keep learning about the memorised deck than here’s all our best posts…

• How to Memorize the Mnemonica Stack: DON’T Do Anything Until You Read This
• What is the BEST stacked deck? My top 4 picks in 2023
• The Aronson Stack: EVERYTHING You Need To Know In 2023
• Master Any Stack
• How to Learn a Card Stack
• A Whole Stack Of Training
• How to Memorize the Mnemonica Stack: DON’T Do Anything Until You Read This
• 100 Books Every Magician Should Read Before They Die
• Cheat Codes to Magic?
• The Memorized Deck: All You Need to Know

Get our New App ‘Master Any Stack’!

The Best Memorised Deck Trainer

Many Magicians are aware that ‘The Stack’ is the MOST Powerful Tool in Card Magic! 

But far fewer can stomach the time to truly master it…

…until NOW!

Introducing: ‘Master any Stack’ the ultimate app trainer for learning stack that makes it as easy and fun as playing a game…we Promise it’s not your fault if you’ve tried learning stack before and have given up or never reached mastery…you just needed this!

Dear friend,

Some will argue, but pretty much all top magicians agree that a ‘Stack’ is the most powerful tool in all of card magic.

There’s only one problem though…

Stack is notoriously hard to master and resources are few and far between. 

So we got ambitious, what if we could create an app?

The app would need to be a lot of things, but most of all, it would need to do everything below.

Imagine This!

• Within 1 hour you’re able to go through the stack from start to finish with relative ease (we showed how to do this LIVE using the ‘Babylon secret’). 
• Practicing stack everyday is as easy as opening your email!
• You can learn any stack you want, with relative ease (no more silly questions about “which stack!?”)
• You have a tool that allows you to practice stack your way (complete customisation!)
• Stack mastery is not a chore – but a leisurely process that you hardly notice is happening!
• You have an easy application for studying your existing stack and making sure it’s always up to scratch! (the stack is a tool that must be properly maintained or it becomes dull very quickly…)

This all sounds a little to good to be true right?

Not this time! 

Just look at the reviews flooding in…

View ‘Master any Stack’