“Let me explain… No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

Hello, world! I’m Tamburlaine*, and I am on a quest for modern magic.

When I talk about magic I don’t mean prestidigitation, the stuff you see on stage. Bunnies-out-of-hats and hankies-into-doves are all very entertaining, but not what this blog will be about. When I say magic, this is the definition I have in mind: “the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature” (dictionaryDOTcom). I’m looking for what’s behind the curtain even when the lights are out.

I’ll be blogging about different magic systems in use today, about methods and theory and people’s experiences, about wonder and belief and sometimes, simply what works.

So come along! I suspect this will be a hell of a ride.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond.

Is it all real?

Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

– Francis Pharcellus

* Well, not really, but it’s the only name any of you lot need.