Sublime

The main tool of the sorcerer was a metal staff that was probably held between the legs and rotated (they apparently served as symbolic distaffs, and were used to ‘wind back’ the performer’s travelling soul, attached to the body by a kind of spiritual thread). Several of the terms for these staffs are synonyms for the male organ; descriptions of th

Makiel stood in the center, surrounded by eyes. Manifestations of his Presence. His white-gauntleted hands were a blur of motion as he tapped one eye and another, transmitting messages to one sector or another. When he tapped an eye, it flashed blue and disappeared, transferred through the Way to its destination. For every eye that disappeared, a c

Maskelyne was once the greatest brand name in magic. The family produced three generations of popular magicians. For over five decades there was a Maskelyne

Kai

When it reached the stage, the illusion lived up to every promise. The Levitation of Princess Karnac was beautiful and astonishing, something that many in the audience would remember for the rest of their lives. For his fellow magicians, Kellar had demonstrated that this single illusion-like a real Holy Grail-was worth any amount of deceit, espiona

When Steinmeyer writes about the theater a century ago, he speaks as one who's met modern versions of the characters, who's even reconstructed their tricks onstage. So when, for example, he describes David Devant's Mascot Moth (which Steinmeyer reproduced in Doug Henning's Merlin),