Magic Tricks for Beginners

If you are a fan of magic you without a doubt are familiar with the names Lance Burton, David Blaine, and Criss Angel. Their illusions have left millions of people scratching their heads and jaws on the floor. They didn't achieve success overnight, it took them years to perfect their mind boggling illusions. But they all had to start somewhere, and that was at the beginning. I'm going to reveal a few simple magic tricks that you can learn that will hopefully spark your interest in the mystical world of magic.

The first trick I'm going to teach you is one of the easiest in the book. However, it is also the easiest for the audience to figure out. Therefore it is a good trick to perform for young children. It was the first trick I ever learned and is really good for "getting your feet wet". The trick is performed by having an audience member select a card from the deck. The card is placed back in the deck and then the cards are one by one dealt face up until you stop on the chosen card. To perform this trick start fanning the cards out and have someone select a card. As the person takes the card out square up the two halves separately, essentially performing a cut where their card was. Keep these two halves separate, and discretely look at the bottom card of one of the halves and remember it. After the person has taken a look at the card ask them to place it on top of the pack of cards that you did not look at the bottom card of. Now you place the other half of the deck on top of their card, and now the card you looked at is right on top of the card you need to guess. Now start dealing the cards from the top face up until you come to the card you peeked at. The next card will be their card. Without shuffling the trick is very logical, so don't perform it on someone who you think will figure it out.

Okay that last trick was a little too easy, so let's step it up a bit. I'm going to teach you how to force a card. There are many ways to do this but I will explain one of the easiest. It does take a lot of practice to disguise the move from your audience, so practice in front of a mirror. To start, you need to know what the top card is, as this is the card that you are going to force. Once you know it hold the cards face down in one hand and have someone tell you when to stop while you start ruffling through the deck. Now here is the tricky part, with your other hand you are going to pull the top half pack of cards away while the fingers of the hand holding the deck pull the top card from the top half off and to the top of the bottom half. Now present them the bottom half and tell them to take the top card, which should be the card you forced them to take.

Now that you know how to force a card you can make the "pick-a-card" trick really amaze your audience. By knowing what card the person is going to take you can do a number of things. For instance, you could shuffle their card back into the deck, scatter the cards on the ground face up and pick it up out of the pile, pretend to read their mind and tell them what card it was, write the card value on a piece of paper and put it in a sealed envelope, write it on your body, or tell them what card they will pick before they even choose one.

The magic mug trick creates the illusion that a coffee mug freezes water into ice in just a few seconds. To do this trick you need a bottle of water, a coffee cup, and a sponge. First you need to cut the sponge so that it fits the shape of the bottom of the coffee mug, making sure that it is slightly bigger so it will fit snugly. To perform the trick you need to secretly place an ice cube (or two) into the mug before you present the trick. Now all you have to do is pour a small amount of water into the mug. Do this slowly so that the sponge has time to absorb the water, plus it creates the illusion that you are pouring a lot more water than you really are. Once the sponge stops absorbing the water, stop pouring. Now turn the mug over and the ice cube falls out.

Criss Angel has revealed a few simple magic tricks on his show, Mindfreak, for the viewers to do on their own. One of the tricks was grabbing a toothpick out of thin air. For this trick you need a toothpick and some scotch tape. Lay the toothpick on top of your thumb and tape one of the ends to your thumbnail, leaving the other end resting over your knuckle. Now pull the toothpick out to create a little pocket in the tape, and be careful not to smash it before you do the trick. To perform the trick hold your hand like an open fist with your thumbnail lightly resting against the pad of your index finger. Next, place the toothpick into the pocket you created, but to the audience it will look like you are just holding it. Then when you have everyone's attention extend all your fingers out really fast. The toothpick will appear to be gone but will actually just be hidden by your thumb. Next flip your hand up into the air and quickly return your fingers back to the starting position. It will look like you just pulled the toothpick out of thin air. To really make the trick look professional, practice grabbing the toothpick out of your teeth.

Another trick Criss Angel revealed was the floating cup. All you need for this trick is a styrofoam cup. When you finish all of the beverage in the cup what you do is push your thumb through the styrofoam. Then all you have to do is hold the cup with both hands and then extend your fingers away, keeping your thumbs behind the cup. Of course the cup can't be examined after for obvious reasons, but if you prepare a bit with some tape and a thumb tack you can tape the tack to your finger and then stick the tack through the cup instead. This will leave a much smaller hole that may be harder for anyone to notice.

The salt shaker through the table is a classic trick that is fairly simple to do. Take a salt shaker and place a napkin over the top of it. Almost any kind of napkin will work, just as long as you can't see through it. Next, grab the salt shaker through the napkin and squeeze it a little so that the napkin will take the shape of the shaker. Now you can let go and have someone touch it through the napkin to verify that it is still their. Now wrap your hand around it again and slide the salt shaker around the table in circles. The tricky part is getting the salt shaker out of your hand and into your lap. You can use some sort of misdirection by pulling your hand back to your body to check the time on your watch. Once your hand is no longer over the table, loosen your grip slightly so the shaker will fall into your lap. Make sure to keep your hand gripped as though you are still holding the salt shaker, and the napkin should retain the shape. Now place your hand back on the table and with your other hand secretly pick up the salt shaker and hold it against the underside of the table. Now start moving your hand around the table like before, only now you have to move the salt shaker underneath as well to give the illusion that you still have it under the napkin. When you are ready, quickly smash the napkin into the table and at the same time drop the shaker (unless it is glass) you are holding under the table. You've just pushed a salt shaker through a solid table.

Next time you are at a restaurant you can dazzle the people in your booth with this neat little trick. If the straws come in a paper wrapper tear off just a small piece from one of the ends to barely expose the end of the straw. Now grab the other end of the wrapper while holding the exposed end of the straw and quickly pull it off and immediately drop it on the table. Practice making this move look casual. Now start to slowly wave the straw back and forth over the wrapper. You should notice that the wrapper will start to move. The only gimmick that is required for this trick is static. And then you can announce to everyone that you will be making your dinner vanish right before their eyes.

Time for some mentalism tricks. For this trick you will need a deck of cards, six pieces of paper, two pens, and know how to force a card to someone. Before you start, take a peek at the top card in the deck and put them back in the box. Tell the person the person that you will be using telepathy to know what they are drawing. First, distance yourself from the person so you can't see what they are drawing and ask them to draw a shape and pretend to do the same. What you will actually be doing is writing down the card that you peeked at. Fold your drawing in half and place it on the table and instruct them to do the same. Now ask them to tell you what they had drawn. If they ask you the same question just tell them that the session isn't over and that you need more chances to get a right answer. Next, ask them to write down the name of a color and pretend to do the same, only this time draw the shape that they had mentioned. Once both of you are done and the papers are folded and placed on the table ask them what color they were thinking of. Now say that you need another shot at it and pull out the cards. Using a card force, force them that card that you peeked at, they don't even have to put the card back in the deck. Ask them to write what card they have and while they do that write down the color that they had named. Now you can show them what you wrote and blow their minds.

Here's a math trick for you. This is personally one of my favorite tricks because it gets a really great reaction. Ask the person to pick any three different numbers to form a three digit number. For instance lets say they picked 459. Now reverse that number and subtract the lowest number from the highest number (954-459=495). Now take the total (495) and add it to its reversed number (495+594=1089). The cool thing with this little equation is that as long as the starting numbers are different you will always end up with 1089. So to make this into a trick is simple and there are quite a few ways you can go with this one. You could write the number down and seal it in an envelope (even mail it to the person before hand and tell them not to open until you say). The most shocking way to perform this trick though is with any kind of book, although a dictionary or phone book work the best. Before you perform the trick open phone book or dictionary to page 108 and find the ninth name or word. Now write this down and seal it to present to the person you are performing the trick for. If you use a regular book you can go to page 10, eight line down, and ninth word. This trick is sure to give goosebumps to your audience.

There you have it, a few simple but powerful tricks to start learning. Practice these tricks in front of a mirror as much as you can so that you can nail them when you perform in front of an audience. Remember that practice is an essential part of magic and the key to becoming a great magician is performing your routine effortlessly and flawlessly. Magic isn't something you are born with, you have to learn it. But if you have the passion for creating illusions and entertaining people with magic your abilities will flourish.