Hey First name / Friend,

 

I'm sat in Hot Numbers, a coffee shop chain in Cambridge I've come to frequent, and I realise that I'm into my 5th year of running a coaching practice; helping magicians stop buying more tricks, and start creating magic that's unmistakably theirs.

 

Being an avid practitioner of personal development I can say I have throughly enjoyed the growth I have experienced by helping others. Each person I work with comes with a different set of challenges for me to tackle as a coach and overcome in order to get the most out of the person I'm sat with.

 

It a wonderful feeling when the penny drops and I see the mindset shifting over time.

 

Anyway, something came up in a recent session and I wanted to explore and share it with you. 

 

 

 

The 'magic moment', that space created of impossible wonder, is the core of our craft.

 

The ‘magic moment’ is the moment the spectator can point at and say “Right there! That's when the magic happened / is happening”.

 

Without it there is no magic. These magic moments are the whole point of what we do, they are central in making what we do different from any other performance art.

 

I frequently see magicians (both amateur and well known professionals!) breeze pass these moments, Rushing. Over-talking. Stamping out the sparks before they catch fire. It's frustrating to see.

 

 

 

I have to make a confession, I am also guilty of this behaviour.

 

 

 

 

The root of this behaviour is often fear. Fear of silence. Of being seen. Of losing the room. Fear that if the magic doesn’t land, we will be exposed as ‘not enough’. Other times it's something subtler: habit, lack of being present, or just not realising there is a moment to be made.

 

 

 

 

 

I am going to borrow from the world of bushcraft and survival and share the fire triangle in but magic terms. 

 

A fire needs 3 things to survive; heat, fuel, and oxygen.

 

They say the opposite to fear is love, so I propose the magic triangle;

Love for your yourself

Love for the audience

Love for the magic

 

Miss one, and the magic dies.

 

 

You rush. You overcompensate. You blow past the magic moment out of desperation for applause or validation. You give, but you don’t receive and it burns you out.

 

You perform at them, not with them.
They feel dismissed or irrelevant, and soon the energy collapses.

 

You’re charming, present, and likeable but the magic falls flat. There’s no reverence. No weight. No wonder. You might as well be a socialite with props.

 

 

✅ But when all three align?
That’s when the spark becomes flame.

It is the mixture of all three that enable the magic fire to take hold – and warm the inner child within us all.

So how do you create, hold on to, and protect the magic moment?

 

Start by asking:

- Can I point to the exact instant/few seconds the magic is meant to be happening/felt?

- Do I give that moment space — with silence and stillness?

- Have I built to this moment to allow the audience to be emotionally clear on what just happened?

- Have I scripted the beat before and after to honour it? – Hint: scripting includes pre-planned pauses – saying nothing is often all it takes).

 

Because that moment is the climax of the piece.
Not the method. Not the moves. Not the misdirection.
The feeling.

If you take nothing else from this next time you perform: 

 

Don’t rush past the magic.

Pause.
 

Let the audience feel it.
Let yourself feel it.

Let the magic live.

 

In a bit!
Matthew

 

 

 

What resonated with you? - 📧 Shoot me an message M@GivingMagic.com

 

 

 

 

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