Fantastic by Antoine Salembier (French)

Fantastic by Antoine Salembier (French)

It took us nearly 5 years to complete this major project!  This box set is quite a concept.  It contains a  luxury book  of more than 380 pages  illustrated and laid out by Benoit Drager , unpublished routines, and  artifacts custom-designed  to perform many of the routines described in the book.

As you will have understood, it is much more than a box set, it is a whole universe in itself! Step by step through the pages, you will travel from the strange to the Marvelous to discover bizarre magic, Fantastic illusionism.

This magical book, the apprentice’s book, offers you the story of a training, of a journey. It offers you routines born from an  incredible meeting with Christian Chelman , a journey through time studded with anecdotes. It offers you theories and practical exercises, a real initiation to fantastic magic.

In addition to the book,  Benoit Drager has rebuilt a turnkey “trick” kit , strange objects designed especially for you, to perform the original routines of the book. As you read the pages, you will be led to take a different look at Magic. You will discover another vision of Mystery. Little by little, thanks to this method, this book will transform your approach to illusionism and will simply enrich your magical universe….

Now it’s your turn to join the story…

Summary

• Foreword
• Prologue
• Course
• Introduction
• But what is this strange magic?
• What then is its essence?

Introduction to the Alice Matrix: First Encounters

• Three little turns and then they leave
• North Magic Club
• Mephisto day
• At Christopher’s
• A very strange teaching
• My first hauntic: Cluedo

The Alice Matrix

• First question
• Some ideas for reflection on this matrix

Illusionism

• Illusionism or magic, confusion of genres?
• the magic effect does not lie in the technicality of the effect
• The mere effect of a trick is not enough to create emotion.
• Illusionism: pleasant entertainment or frustration?
• Poor formulation of the initial question
• Questions to ask yourself when starting a new routine
• The Coffin Collection: The Clock
• O Time, Suspend Your Flight! The Basic Clock Tour
• “Overkill” by Paul Harris
• The white clock of time
• During my readings: two essential routines
• Birth
• Birth memory
• Temporal coincidences
• Ephemeris
• Theatrical illusionism
• What is theatrical illusionism?
• The theatrical choice of movement
• How to make the right choice?
• Theatrical techniques
• The magic of drama
• The Harrow of Death, a scenic example!
• Theater and weird magic:
• Two different playing fields
• Different spaces
• Character work
• Scales and essays. collection n°2: covers
• Equinox
• Gun’s
• The Fortunate Islands
• Mentalism. collection n°3
• Ultimate card choice
• Pikture, a little analysis of the outs

The Fantastic

• The Fantastic, first approach
• And the story continues
• Magical fantasy, a state of balance
• Trypticont, the marvelous. collection n°4
• Cottingley
• Master story
• Tales in reverse
• The ball of wool
• The fantastic, second approach
• The Natural Fantastic
• The Second-Rate Fantastic
• General mechanisms
• The springs
• A fundamental work
• Basically, the Second Order Fantastic shifts the questioning
• The Third-Rate Fantastic
• Do Ghosts Exist?
• Inception

Magic squares

• Traditional magic squares
• The Magic Square of Saturn
• The forcing dies
• Construction
• Rectangular matrices
• Gypsy witch mystery
• Moving squares
• Locked-room mystery
• The two guns
• Moving circles
• Alice
• Labyrinth
• the opening of the labyrinth
• Alice and Celia
• the secret code
• the movement on the chessboard
• The Fairy Hunter’s Grimoire
• The Ephemeris of the Fairy World
• Location and search for a fairy circle
• Guide’s choice
• The Fairy Circle
• The labyrinth of tales
• The revelation

The Fantastic, the Frontier

• The Fantastic, a space to write
• The Magician: The Door
• The different keys
• Flat
• Learn to “slide”
• The collective imagination
• To mystify or convince
• Golden Dawn – in homage to that madman Aleister Crowley
• Prologue: The Prophecy of the Angels
• Act 1: Jack or the prophecy of the “Ciphers” 
• The ritual of the small pentagram
• Geomantic divination
• The vision by the “Tattwas”
• The practice of tarology
• Act 2: A Demon Awakened
• The tattwas
• The geomantic symbol
• The Angel’s Choice
• The revelation
• The Time Turners
• Didier

The artist

• The virtuoso magician
• Developing your sensitivity
• Shoah
• Some memories as a conclusion