Ethics & Obligations
by P. Craig Browning

Before you moan too loudly let me point out that this article has little to nothing to do with Psychic Entertainers per cé or "Randi Bashing", as some folks call my little tantrums… What it is about is our personal responsibility as both performers and, for some of us, authors.

Let me explain just what got me going on this path and why I felt it was time to take a look at things; here’s the blurb:

This book is about hypnosis and how to use it effectively.
It will teach you what hypnosis is and how to hypnotize people anytime and anywhere.

Whether your aim is to use hypnosis for fun, influence, profit or hypnotic engineering this book will show you how.

· Is it possible to walk into a shop and leave with any goods you choose without paying?

· Is it possible to become 'invisible'?

· Is it possible to pay people with blank paper rather than cash?

· Is it possible to make people collapse with laughter on your command?

· Can you get free drinks by convincing bar staff you are a superstar?

The answer to all of these questions and many more is YES. The techniques in this book will show you how.

The techniques in this book are simple direct and can be learnt without any prior knowledge of hypnosis. They can be applied effectively in a real world setting, well out of the comfort zone of the therapy room and without the luxury of a stage full of expectant subjects. They are entirely impromptu.

Ok, we’ve all heard hype 1001 times and it’s all part of the magic industry but let’s go a step or two further and look at this issue via a couple of links:

• Get Some Free Drinks
• No Pick-Pocket Skill Needed!
• Hyposis for the Horny
• Hypnosis for the Perverted [Warning: YouTube "age requirements" on this one]

There are other example of how this “Non-Psychic” skill could be abused and in many a lowly instant, are being abused; abused by foolish idiots who could care less (especially when it comes to getting laid).

I can’t help but ponder though, what the reaction would be by these very same up-right citizens who rub elbows with us at those monthly magic meetings and the annual conventions, if someone used these very same tactics that they get their rocks off with, on their children, their spouse or a sibling? After all, those women our predatory fellows go after, be it via de/im-pressing them with Card Flourishes or the act of a bogus Palm Reading for the sake of similar conquest.

Oh it’s all kicks and giggles at the club with the guys but those people you have preyed upon are the sister/brother/wife/husband and child of someone else in this world and as the saying goes, what goes around will eventually come around and of course, what’s good for the arrogant and boastful goose is most certainly good for the gander as well.

When I first read the speil on Anthony Jacquin’s new book Reality is Plastic, I was seeing red. The audacity of anyone to recklessly promote material of this sort that will most certainly appeal to the young and impressionable, kids who have little to no real discipline when it comes to the possibility of getting a little someth’n for, seemingly, a lot of nothing… we’re talking about Obiwan and that freak’n old Jedi Mind Trick here, folks, even I had a second or two of fantasy around that idea. Fortunately, Anthony is far more down to earth and responsible than the leader ad (shown above) suggests. Then again, that’s his job, knowing how to effectively exploit the art of suggestion and proving that reality really is plastic and malleable.

I don’t care if you’re a poker demonstrator, a Reader, or whatever else, we each have certain moral, ethical and professional obligations when it comes to the public we serve and that really does include one another as well. Those of us that have been around for a while are obliged to reach out and guide the newbies to the game; that may include slapping their hand away from the cookie jar every now and then, encouraging them to actually use those books and DVDs they keep grabbing up in their quest for the Holy Grail rather than wasting their time and money on the next new flavor of the month. Of course my point of view on this issue has been met with those pacifists in the world thinking me a bully and a brute who randomly throws his weight around, when the truth of the matter is, I simply give a damn.

Getting back to Anthony’s book… Well, I can’t say a lot other than he and his material has opened my eyes a bit wider than they had been when it comes to the issue of hypnosis. He’s no Ormond McGill, but he’s not yet reached his 90s nor penned over 100 books on said topic; he’s just getting warmed-up and I for one have faith that he’ll do a terrific job. He’s just one of many we have on the horizon these days with new products and more of that wonderful new thinking I can’t seem to get enough of. One side of my desire being to introduce you all to some of these folks this month but such just isn’t in the cards; not when the issue of “professionalism” is in the mix and why demonstrations such as those few I shared above with the sexual innuendos simply ruin it for everyone, and until we all get honest about such things and start placing the guilty parties in check for taking such or similar advantages of the public Magic on the whole is going to suffer. The stigma this sort of thing creates brings to the rest of us a steeper up-hill climb when it comes to getting decent, well paying gigs as well as positive and well worded press… including the kind of word-of-mouth PR that distinguishes us from the all too typical drunk and womanizer image so many seem comfortable being, not giving a dee-doodly-damn as to how their actions affect the rest of us and the public’s opinion of magic/magicians and mystery performers in general.

I was sharing on one of my regular forums my views on the term “Magician” in that many have the belief that I see it in the same light as one would the infamous “N-word" here in the States. There is a truth to their point of view but it is not my position alone; it is a point of view shared by a very wide element within the world of the real working performers who are forced to put on a smile and tolerate the poorly rehearsed, arrogant, wannabes who’s biggest claim to fame is being an armchair expert at the famed green slime pit on the web. Most of them do less than a dozen shows in a year’s time, the majority of which reveal the suffering of a man (typically) who is doing his best to ignore the fact that he stinks and he stinks because of the lack of rehearsal, practice and honest coaching/direction needed for the development of a solid performance. Then again, most of what he presents will be new versus the older material he’s done before and has a stronger sense of comfort and familiarity with.

I can empathize with this sort of sap in that I know far too many fitting the bill that I consider friends.

"What’s this got to do with ethics and morality?" you ask.

Well, if you’re asking that question I think maybe you need to take a refresher course on what it means to be human and a positive influence in the world; and what true Professionalism means -- why we are each obligated to not just live up to that standard but constantly strive to raise the bar; which brings me to my favorite point of view when it comes to that label we all so vicariously apply to our names…

The Magician is a gentle as well as genteel man or the epitome of womanhood.

The Magician supports “The Arts” on the whole, not just out little corner of it (and it’s a very small corner by the way).

The Magician is big enough to fill the grandest of auditoriums and yet humble enough to roll up his sleeves, get down in the mud and get the work done as it’s needed, regardless of what it may be… after all, Mr. Houdini was willing to play roadie for his co-stars just as you’ll find common of the other legends in our past; before the idea of “Celebrity” implied privilege and obligatory arrogance.

The Magician respects all people from all walks of life, never seeking to impose his personal ideology onto them nor treating them as fools and imbeciles for not seeing things in the same manner that he may.

The Magician also respects his craft, understanding that even though his trade is filled with tricks; such things can likewise be seen as tools of manipulation and as such, a resource for possible cruelty and trespass. We therefore strive to refrain from such base thinking as well as such base antics.

The True Magician is the kind of person I hope to become as the grey in my hair envelopes my cranium just a bit more and life itself allows me the opportunity to survive off the fruit of my labors. But then that is what many of us dream, isn’t it?

Kirkham told me long ago that I must always tell the truth no matter what, for in doing so, it makes others think you’re up to something. Well, as best as I’ve been able I’ve lived my life as a very opened book and my honesty has most certainly brought about its fair share of challenge and ridicule. Such is what happens when you are driven by passion and the deepest of love for a thing; you create enemies as the result of your candor as well as your brutality when it comes to defending the honor of your mistress. People will speak against you out of envy as well as frustration… even my step-children get bent over the fact that “I’m most always right”… but then I used to rail against my own father for the very same thing… haven’t we all?

The point is I’m paying a price. A price that I knew would be asked of me simply because I do expect my fellows to mind their P’s & Q’s and stop pissing all over our parade; this wonderful dame we call magic. It is the price every mouthpiece that has spoken out and called a spade a spade, must pay; for the peons who perpetuate the negative, who think it’s cool to wrongfully employ these skills for the sake of personal gain… or conquest… they each loathe the idea of getting caught and being outed and their fans will step in for their defense, by pointing their finger at you.

Just remember, if you can, it is only one finger that is pointing… three others are pointing back at them and it is in that gesture that one can find the source of what is truly amiss. Especially when the whines and complaint prove to be misdirection in the case of the accuser’s own short-comings; in this instance we are looking at those who wrongfully exploit the tools of our craft in that good ole boy way that too frequently gets ignored and rarely addressed. Much of said transgressions being perpetuated by the very people who would lash me and more than a few of my associates to the nearest stake and Bar-B-Q us, because we do legit Reading work and cater to the shut-eye realm in a manner that extends respect.

Sadly, I’ve found far more living down to this mode of magical abuse outside the realms of Mentalism and Bizarre Magick than I’ve ever seen directly tied to it. I’ve watched the young’ns abuse Pick-Pocket and Monte techniques time and again, much of it encouraged by today’s “it’s cool to be a bad boy” sub-culture (thank you Hip-Hop & Rap as well as various Video Games sharing said theme) but the disgusting truth is, this is something that has been around and ignored for decades by the good ole boys in the magician’s drinking societies (best known as the IBM, SAM, Magic Castle, Magic Circle, etc.) who simply look the other way, pat one another on the back and allow things to just stand as they are rather than demanding their membership to step up to a much higher (much needed) new standard that encourages everyone that’s a part of their group to become that more positive idea of what The Magician is supposed to be – the hero, the scholar, the good Samaritan, a solid human being.

Later!

As We Go To Press… I find in my mail box a copy of Anthony Jacquin’s book REALITY IS PLASTIC, the opening page and a half entitled “About Reality in Plastic: The Art of Impromptu Hypnosis” not only places my worse fears on ice, it re-enforced all the good I’ve heard about Mr. Jacquin as well as what I felt from him in our few conversations. He is a genuine human being and a consummate professional by every definition of the term.

Craig Browning