Magic and Philosophy

I recently turned back to pick up my teenage passion of performing magic tricks. Some might think that it is quite a big step from the seriousness and heaviness of philosophy to the giddiness and lightness of magic. The two are actually much more closely related to each other than obvious at first glance.

Both the magician and the philosopher have arisen from the same archetypical and historical figure of the shaman. The anthropological record shows that shamans use technical and psychological principles, similar to those used by contemporary stage magicians, to aid there spiritual work.

I became interested in philosophy as a teenager by reading books about the history of magic that refer back to the shamanistic origins of the craft. Snowballing my way through literature I eventually stranded at philosophy itself. My journey has gone full circle and I am back at studying magic tricks!