I must admit how tired I am about hearing magicians crying out that “Uri Geller is a fraud” or that “Psychics are doing terrible damage to people”. How these evil people are bilking the public out of their hard earned dollars. “If Mentalists do not use disclaimers, they are just as guilty of fraud as the evil psychics.” What a load of CRAP!

First, a true skeptic does not adamantly state, “It does not exist.” A true skeptic will say, “So far I have not seen the proof but I cannot discount the existence of this phenomenon.” A true skeptic merely wants you to kick the tires on that used car before you buy it. As far as I am concerned, these magicians are all having “sour grapes syndrome”. They figure that since they know a method to bend spoons, that when Geller does it, it must be a trick. They figure that if Randi says it is all smoke and mirrors then it must be, even when they have no idea how Geller really does it. These magicians are very quick to proclaim Geller a fake and expose his methods to the public in a vain attempt at appearing to be knowledgeable and clever when in reality they are as guilty of exposure as the Masked Magician.

These self-proclaimed protectors of society are very quick to explain away the methods they seem to feel are the ones Geller uses. They are very quick to explain “cold reading techniques” to their listeners. They are very quick to label these “psychic practitioners” as clever magicians and if they are clever magicians, then these exposers of magical secrets are guilty of one of the most vile things a magician can do to his brethren, that of exposing their methods publicly.

Many of the top Mentalists in the world have no idea how Uri Geller can make a compass needle move. Since he does so in his bathing suit and has been checked over by ultra sensitive equipment for metal or magnetic radiation, he obviously is NOT using a hidden magnet to move the compass needle. Since reliable sources (and knowledgeable magicians) have not only witnessed Geller make spoons bend but have witnessed them to continue moving long after Mr. Geller has left, I would challenge these so called protectors and magic geniuses to explain how he does it. If they reply, “I don’t know for sure” then they have no right to say that he is a fake. And if they do know and do expose the method, then they are once again guilty of exposing magic methods. It is a no win situation for these magicians. Why not just say that they have no idea how he does it and that perhaps it is real magic, then go on to perform their own “miracles” for their public.

I have heard the argument many times that psychics have harmed the public but when challenged to explain how they have hurt the public, my question is always met with silence. Sometimes I do get the comment that these psychics are causing “false beliefs”, but I put to you, who are these magicians to say that one person’s belief system is any better than another’s? Would these magicians be as quick to get on a soapbox to preach that Hinduism is better than Catholicism or that people that believe in the Bible are morons for following a monotheistic god? No they wouldn’t. If someone wants to believe in something, that is their right.

Most people who go to a psychic practitioner go because they want someone to listen to them. Most psychics offer a compassionate and listening ear. Most psychics will gently suggest that a listener seek proper medical or psychiatric counseling if needed and most psychics will not offer advice on subjects that they are not qualified to give. I say most because there do exist some unethical psychic practitioners that have no ethics and are fraudulently making a buck off of unsuspecting dupes. I can however assure you that there are far more unethical “three card monte” men and many more magicians who while their acts are not worth the spit in their mouths, they dupe an unsuspecting public out of many thousands of dollars for acts that should not be booked in front of an audience of chimpanzees.

The problem is that it is easy to climb aboard the “psychic bashing bandwagon” without a real knowledge about psychics or psychic entertainers. It is an easy thing to stand up and say, “they are using tricks to fool you and I know how they do it”. At least that way these magicians get to look as if they are competent and knowledgeable, caring people when the truth is that they are the ones that desperately want to be heard and seen. Since they do not have their audiences suspend their disbelief in their shows, since their audiences know that these performers are “playing tricks on them” they feel that anyone else that can cause their audience to suspend their disbelief is doing something wrong. Apparently these magicians believe that Brechtian theatre is the only way to present theatre. That if you do not tell an audience right at the very beginning that they are about to see a theatre production, that the actor’s are committing fraud.
Many are quick to say “that an audience that goes to the theatre already knows that what they are seeing is not real but when a mentalist is on stage they may assume that what is being done is real”. Well, SO WHAT?!?!?!?! If they want to believe that what they are witnessing is real, let them. What harm is believing that psychic powers may actually exist. It harms no one except the magician that so desperately wants to be taken seriously. Those same magicians, the ones who feel the audience should be told the truth, the ones who have no compelling reason to say “I am false shuffling the deck even though I appear to be shuffling” or “take a card any card not that it matters because I am forcing you to take the card I want” or “as you can see, my hand is empty. Actually I am very cleverly hiding the ball by sleight of hand but since I am smarter than you, you cannot see it”.

“But that is different, the audience knows that we are performing magic for them and they won’t believe that what we are doing is actual magic.” That’s what I am always told by those same magicians. Apparently they have never been asked to stay away from the tables of various religious sects that believe that ANY illusion is the work of the devil, and that what they magicians are doing, tricks or no tricks are pure evil and wrong. Perhaps those magicians should be standing on their soapboxes and denouncing those peoples beliefs too. After all, they believe that what the magician is doing may be real or at least guided by the devil. Perhaps those same magicians should denounce Doug Henning (arguably one of the most influential magicians of the twentieth century) because he truly believes that real magic exists in the world.

It is high time that when magicians are asked about Uri Geller or other psychics, the answer should be “Yes. Pretty good isn’t it.” And then add, “Would you like to see something along that line that I have been working on”, rather than their “it’s all fake. Want to see how clever I am at false shuffling a deck of cards?” It is time that instead of denouncing things they do not truly understand that they accept other people’s beliefs and adopt Doug Henning’s approach. If you believe in your heart that what you are doing is real, then you will convey that to your audience. Why not simply tell your audience that there are so many wonderful, magical and unknown things in this universe, so many mysteries that we will probably never understand them all, and then use that to their performing advantage. After all, magicians, like mentalists, rely on “wonder” in their entertainment. Accepting their methodology works for them, regardless of whether or not it conflicts from your own is all part of being a member in the larger “magicians universe”.