Mr. Gurdjieff and the Real Magic

•July 6, 2025 • Leave a Comment

To perform magic is to walk a tightrope between illusion and revelation. To study the Fourth Way is to bring that walk inward. Together, they form a path of waking up—in front of others, and within oneself.

Gurdjieff’s teachings offer the magician not just tools for better tricks, but tools for transformation. With presence, intention, and effort, each performance becomes an act of becoming.

That is the real Work. That is the real magic.

It has been a pleasure to write this series of thoughts about Mr. Gurdjieff and the way his ideas might affect magicians. Mr. Gurdjieff traveled with a large group of followers across Europe to escape the Russian Revolution. Along the way he performed both hypnosis and magic shows to fund the group. The premise of his magic & mentalism show that some of the effects were real and some were not. The audience’s job was to tell one from the other.

These posts just scratch the surface of Mr. Gurdjieff’s ideas. I have been studying his work for nearly 50 years and still find powerful new thoughts and insights. If you are interested in studying his work the best place to start is In Search of the Miraculous by PD Ouspensky. If you want to read about Mr. Gurdjieff’s travels, check out his “somewhat” autobiography, Meetings With Remarkable Men. It is not quite as simple and direct as it appears however!

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Mr. Gurdjieff & Magic’s Inner Circle

•July 1, 2025 • Leave a Comment

Gurdjieff taught in groups because friction creates fire. The magician, though often a solo act, needs a circle.

Mentors who push, peers who challenge, students who question—these are the real mirrors. In shared Work, ego is tempered, insights multiply, and the path becomes less lonely.

The magician who cultivates such a circle does not just grow his act—he grows his soul.

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Mr. Gurdjieff: Conscious Shock and the Reveal.

•June 30, 2025 • Leave a Comment

In Gurdjieff’s system, transformation requires a jolt—a conscious shock. These are moments that break the trance of ordinary life.

Magic offers this, if wielded with intention. The gasp, the double-take, the disorientation—all are invitations to wake up.

However, to make these shocks conscious, the magician must perform with a Clear Aim. Not just to entertain, but to disturb—in the best sense—the comfort of the ordinary. To remind the audience that wonder still exists.

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Mr. Gurdjieff & Art as Sacred Duty

•June 26, 2025 • Leave a Comment

Mr. Gurdjieff believed in objective art, works that transmit truths regardless of time, place, or language. Magic can do this. Not always, but sometimes.

When performed with consciousness, a simple vanish becomes a metaphor for impermanence. A torn-and-restored card becomes resurrection. A prediction becomes prophecy.

The magician, when aligned with the Fourth Way, can make sacred objects out of sponge balls. His tools are mundane; his effect, eternal.

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Mr Gurdjieff: External Consideration & the Spectator

•June 23, 2025 • Leave a Comment

Gurdjieff differentiated between internal and external consideration. The former demands others adapt to you. The latter is the conscious choice to adapt to them. For the magician, this is gold.

Magic that serves the audience creates connection. It’s designed with empathy, not ego. It asks: What will move them? What do they need tonight?

External consideration transforms spectators from props into participants. They’re not fooled—they’re invited. The magician becomes not a manipulator, but a guide.

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Mr Gurdjieff on Energy, Attention, and the Audience

•June 19, 2025 • Leave a Comment

“You mistake intensity for presence, and emotion for being.”

The magician’s greatest task is attention control – both of the audience and of himself. To misdirect is to redirect energy. To hold suspense is to hold energy in the room

But attention is fragile. If the magician is identified with ego, nerves, or outcome—he leaks. If he becomes “present”, he seals the circuit.

This isn’t just technique—it’s metaphysical. The performer becomes a tuning fork. He vibrates, and the room responds. That is the real joy of a standing ovation!

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Mr. Gurdjieff & The Enneagram

•June 13, 2025 • Leave a Comment

“Without suffering, no soul is born. Without friction, no awakening.”

The Enneagram, as used by Gurdjieff, is a map of process—a mystical symbol that captures the flow of any creation. Every performance follows this hidden arc.

It begins with an impulse (1), hits resistance (2), needs a reconciling force (3). It evolves through stages, some predictable, others unexpected. The magician can learn to see his show through this lens—identifying where the energy drops, where a shock is needed, where transformation occurs.

Writing a routine, producing a show, evolving a character—these are all creative acts that follow the Enneagram. To learn this map is to understand the heartbeat of art.

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Mr. Gurdjieff and the Illusion of the Self

•June 9, 2025 • Leave a Comment

“Real ‘I’ is not something you find. It is something you become.”

Gurdjieff taught that what we call “I” is a collection of many selves. One moment we’re bold, the next we’re doubtful. One part wants to rehearse, another wants Netflix. The tragedy is that no single self is in charge.

Magicians live this multiplicity: the charismatic stage persona, the insecure beginner, the ambitious artist, the tired traveler. Each claims to be the real self, but none hold the throne for long.

The Work invites us to create a stable inner observer—an “I” behind the eyes, constant and aware. This observing “I” doesn’t act; it watches. Over time, with presence and effort, this observing “I” can grow roots and become the true anchor of performance.

The magician who performs from this place exudes authenticity. He doesn’t need to fake confidence—he is simply there. Unified, rooted, real.

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The Power of Intentional Rehearsal

•June 7, 2025 • Leave a Comment

“One must observe without judgment, but with ruthless honesty.”

Rehearsal is often seen as a grind—a necessary evil before the fun of performance. But in the Fourth Way, this grind is gold. Gurdjieff called it intentional suffering: the conscious endurance of discomfort for transformation.

Practicing a sleight a thousand times until it becomes invisible… reviewing video of a performance to spot dead moments… resisting the urge to improvise sloppily—all these are forms of Work.

What transforms them is intention. To suffer consciously is to choose growth. Rehearsal then becomes not a chore but a crucible. The magician sharpens not just his craft, but his very being.

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Mr Gurdjieff and the Sacred Art of Presence

•June 6, 2025 • Leave a Comment

“You mistake intensity for presence, and emotion for being.”

Gurdjieff’s most vital practice is presence—the ability to be aware of oneself and the moment simultaneously. He called this “self-remembering.” In performance, this takes on electric importance.

The magician is the master of attention. He crafts moments of silence, holds gaze, chooses when to speak and when to pause. But the deeper mastery comes not from controlling the audience’s attention, but from controlling his own.

Divided attention—being aware of the audience while also aware of oneself—is the doorway to real presence. It prevents the performer from vanishing into the role. It keeps the magician alive inside the illusion.

Such presence is palpable. Audiences may not know what they’re sensing, but they feel it. It’s what makes a performance unforgettable. It’s what turns a trick into a transmission.

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