Magic today
Magic is an art. That's the bare bone truth of it. It involves misdirection, lots of planning and even more practice. But magic no longer becomes an art if you use it for self gain, for power or wealth. Then it becomes an elaborate scam. Dedi is a perfect example of this. He used illusions to benefit himself and lived a life of power and wealth because he deceived a king. But today magicians are much less deceiving and follow a set of rules. One of the main rules are to never deceive someone unless they allow you to. If you are ever interested in magic Penn and Tellers Fool Us TV show is a great place to be entertained. Today magic is not so influential in our everyday lives. We rarely see it on TV and things like video games and sport have taken our interest. But the small magic community today is growing quite steadily. Youtuber's like Shin Lim, Chris Ramsay and Ving Gingh are teaching the next generation of magicians in a unique and fun way. Magic conventions attract thousands of people from all over the world. People like David Blaine and Dyanmo are still managing to amaze people worldwide in a unique and talented way. Like throwing up a live frog or casually floating up the Eiffel tower. So yes maybe magic isn't as popular or influential as it was but that doesn't mean its gone. If you look hard enough you'll always find magicians out their ready to entertain. Whether its on the streets or on Tv magicians are always ready to trick and amaze you. 
The 1800's
Our journey is drawing to a end. I will publish one more blog after this talking about modern magic toady. But the 19th century is a key note of magic history and influence for a couple of reasons, but the main one being Houdini the master of escapes and self proclaimed king of cards. But first lets talk about a man called Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. What a name! He is considered a father of modern magic, moving it from circuses and streets to elegant stages and drawing rooms. He ushered in a new age of magic. But he started off as a apprentice watchmaker who practiced magic in his spare time. Some of his tricks are nothing short of amazing like making a handkerchief appear out of an orange or levitating his son using "magic ether". But his most amazing trick was in 1856 when he managed to stop a war with magic. Interested? Here's how the story went. Napoleon was getting anxious about the religious Arabic tribe called Marabouts rebelling against him. The Marabouts had many magicians in their tribes that the tribal leaders respected and feared. They told their leaders to rebel against the french. Napoleon asked Jean Houdin to go to the tribe and show them that french magic was superior to their magic. So Jean Houdin began his journey from France to Algeria. Here's what he did. He told the tribal warriors that they were as weak as women and could not lift this simple wooden box he brought. The warriors were highly offended and angry yet no matter what they tried they could even ten men couldn't lift this small wooden box. So Jean Houdin said " you are all as weak as women but i am as strong as ten men". He then very easily lifted the box by himself. No matter how hard the Marabouts magicians tried they could not lift the box. How did he do it? Magic. Thanks to him a bloody war was stopped and thousands of lives were saved. And thanks to him people like Houdini dazzled the world with amazing feats of escape and illusions. This is a prime example of how magic influenced leaders of the world.
