"In folklore, crossroads may represent a location "between the worlds" and, as such, a site where supernatural spirits can be contacted and paranormal events can take place. Symbolically, it can mean a locality where two realms touch and therefore represent liminality, a place literally "neither here nor there", "betwixt and between."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossroads_(folklore)

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

By strange coincidence, the wonderful thing about our magic is our apparent ability to prove the entirely irrational by entirely rational means. The true magic of the trick is the way the entirely irrational bosh and the entirely rational action work together to create the miracle of one only thing: Which is a paradoxical effect that seems both irrational and rational, at the same time. The X symbolizes the crossing of these two opposing forces.

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Where the lines of an X cross, they appear to go both ways simultaneously, creating a paradox. If one draws a line that slopes right and another line that slopes left, the two lines will eventually cross if the lines are enlarged enough. By enlarging, and exaggerating, the characteristics of real things and people, one can often develop extraordinary patter and characters. Hollywood filmmakers are masters at taking real stories and partially fictionalizing them in this way. Such films and so on are distortions of truth and by my definition, they are illusions. Let the bosh be bosh and the action be action. This means that there is a time and a place for creativity, or "bosh," and a time and a place for practical, logical action. The bosh corresponds with the creative, imaginative part of our minds that is often associated with the right hemisphere of the brain. When the company is engaging in storytelling or other imaginative activities, it's important to let the bosh take over and allow people to fully enter into the spirit of the thing. Interrupting this creative flow with rational, left-brained thinking can break the spell and ruin the experience. So, it's important to understand when it's appropriate to let the bosh run wild and when it's time to shift gears into action mode.

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Rule (6) Let every accessory and incidental detail be kept well "within the picture," and in harmony with the general impression which is intended to be conveyed.

"In relation to magic, the term "consistency" represents a quality which may be roughly described as propriety in necromantic details."

-Maskelyne, Nevil; Devant, David. Our Magic: The Art and Theory in Magic (pp. 38-39).

Necro-mantic: the dark arts.

A legit magician can play with a memory of an ancient glory so long as the crowd is aware that it is a play, that is to say, make-believe. I think the falsity of the fictional claim must be as clear as the evidence that proves it true to create the paradox but I am not sure about that.

A fella once said, "A subconscious doubt is stronger than a conscious belief."

"In the third of the Sophia Lectures for 2023, Professor Douglas Hedley embarks on an intellectual journey that explores the enigmatic nature of play and its profound impact on human life, drawing from ancient philosophies and modern psychological theories. Delving into the works of Heraclitus and Plato, Hedley examines the paradoxical relationship between play and seriousness and how this dynamic shapes our understanding of life's deepest questions." Et cetera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY1iOQaT......nCollege

There is a correlation between the above and our magic. As a magician crosses from his Bosh to his Action he paradoxically goes from play to seriousness: from the unreal to the real in effect. The Bosh one might say is the poetry of Our Magic which lies beyond seriousness, in the region of dream, enchantment, ecstasy and laughter and it is a magic cloak that draws the child's soul. The Action, the trick if you will, in contrast, is the waking world, very real in effect. Et cetera

One of the aspects of classical things is symmetrical balance, which one can see in classical architecture and hear in classical music, et cetera. This classical symmetrical balance can be found in our magic, where the irrational bosh and the rational action are balanced to create the simultaneity of opposites. However, it is not merely a matter of balancing the bosh and the action: one must also establish a relationship between the two things. Among other things, the entirely rational evidence of the action has to be relevant to the entirely irrational bosh that it proves. Without a relationship, one might get a nightmare of symmetry, rather than a world of dreams conjured up by a wonderful science. However, I am only an amateur card guy, a mere boy.



"There is, however, one very effective method of combining ancient legends with modern ideas, which, in addition to the proof it gives of the soundness of the principles of consistency, is extremely useful in aiding the modern magician to give his conceptions a definite application. This consists in the supposed introduction of ancient magical traditions into the actual affairs of modern life, and the suggestions that the magical theory had a foundation in fact. Usually, the procedure is somewhat as follows:

It is assumed that the magician has discovered some ancient charm, talisman, incantation, or spell, with which he decides or is caused to experiment. On doing so, he finds that apparently the legendary power attributed to the particular fetish in question are really genuine, and remain efficacious even in our own age of skepticism. The possibilities of magical and dramatic effect derivable from a situation of this kind are practically infinite. This is a fact which has long been understood and frequently utilized in literature.
But, strange to say, this magical idea has not been developed to any great extent in connection with the art of magic itself. In plays such as "Niobe" and "The Brass Bottle," for example, this conception has provided a basis for valuable and artistic work. And in relation to magic, it presents facilities for introducing legitimate and convincing effects, which should by no means be neglected."

-Maskelyne, Nevil; Devant, David. Our Magic: The Art et cetera

The "Niobe" Greek myth would make a wonderful patter for this effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viS1RGKdsT4

The tragic tale of Niobe is one of the most poignant in Greek mythology. The gist of the myth is this: According to Homer’s Iliad, Niobe had six sons and six daughters and boasted of her progenitive superiority to the Titan Leto, who had only two children, the twin deities Apollo and Artemis. As punishment for her pride, Apollo killed all Niobe’s sons and Artemis killed all her daughters. Niobe wept and went back to her Phrygian home, where the gods took pity on her and turned into a rock on Mount Sipylus (Yamanlar Da??, northeast of Izmir, Turkey), which continues to weep when the snow melts above it - for those who know.

Gods and Robots: Ancient Dreams of Technology |Adrienne Mayor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czj-7G6J......undation

Greek Myths, Lewis Carroll's Nonsense and Magic Patter are built similarly: on the results of experiences rather than around a system of beliefs. All this bosh, for want of a better word, is created by exaggerating the effect of some real or plausibly real phenomena. The rock that looks like a woman, the water that runs down her face like tears and the grief of mothers who have lost their children are real stuff. With a little imagination and a little exaggeration, the Wet Moon becomes the Cheshire Cat. And the Divining Rod becomes a magic wand, with which one can find gold, diamonds and a lost playing card. It is no wonder that the possibilities of magical and dramatic effects derivable from Greek myths et cetera are practically infinite. However, it is a mystery to me why references to magic are abundant in the ancient Greek myths, yet references to ancient Greek myths in our magic are scarce.

“To prove her expertise, the old priestess called for a basin of pure water and withdrew, locking herself in a small chamber. To their astonishment, when Medea stepped from the room, the ugly crone had transformed into a beautiful young woman.”

Mayor, Adrienne. Gods and Robots (p. 64). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.

The above might not be the most deceptive trick in the book performed in that way but the same method was used in a different way to create the greatest performance of magic that I have ever seen.