The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1936-11-21
MRS.
Schuyler Says
Magic

me most FASCINATING NOIu III
English is magic All of us at
some time or other have believed
in it. hoped for it or delighted in
what we thought was it. Just the
other night, on October 31st, Hal
loween, seances were held all over
this continent in the name of ma
gic. From Los Angeles to Boston
those interested in psychic de-
velopment, gathered to try to COM
municate with the spirit of Hou-
DIM. 1t was the tenth anniversary
of the death of this greatest mod
ern magician. He had, on his
deathbed a decade ago, promised
his wife that if there was a spiritu-
al life after death and ii was at all
possible to communicate with the
living. he would by certain signs
let her know that he was flourish
ing in the other. Elaborate prepa-
rations were made by Mrs. Houdini
and a host of others to make it
easy for the spirit of her husband
to talk or make some sign to her
No word or sign came.
Houdini himself. doubted the
supernatural. He knew and had
practiced all of the clever tricks
which spiritualists perform for the
amazement of the ignorant. There
was no supposedly psychic feat,
he could not himself accomplish
He had learned to stay under water
and in the ground for far longer
than is considered possible in a
natural way. He could undo any
lock in record time. He could
throw his voice and initiate the
speech of your long dead Uncle
Henry. just as any so-called high
class Medium. He made trumpets
talk and tables walk And he was
honest enough to confess that il
was not supernatural nor magic in
the way we think of these things
Self-discipline, swiftness and hyp-
notism were his tools. Especially
self-discipline. He knew that the
secret OF what is called magic is
chiefly mastery Of ones own mind
Could Teach Us Much
The Yogis who can sleep under
ground forty days and arise in
good health; the East Indians who
can walk across Goals of fire on
bare feet without being burned
the West African fishermen who
can. according to Gorer, stay un-
der water forty-five minutes with
out breathing as we breathe: the
Egyptian Seers who can read the
mind as an open book; the Der
wishes who can whirl countless
times and plunge swords into their
sides without bringing blood, all
are the result of self-discipline.
There is very little you cannot
make the body and mind do if you
concentrate upon it enough. Most
Of us would not care to take the
time to learn to do these amazing
but useless things. But there are
countless useful things to be &C
complished by the same methods
Still Believe In Magic
When someone breaks a mirror
and cries out about the seven years
bad luck which they think will
come because of it, they are voic-
ing belief in magic. They don't
know the origin of this idea but
the tradition has been handed
down from mother to daughter for
ages. At one time. all peoples be-
lieved that the reflection of the
face in water or glass was the
image of the. soul When a mirror
you had gazed into was broken,
your soul, it was believed, was
scattered and 1t took seven (al-
ways magic number) years 70
reorganize it, bring it back to its
former power and glory.
"The Golden BOugh"
Sir James George Frazer made
collection of magic beliefs from
all over the world. It took him
twenty years to make it and he
called it "The Golden Bough."
Magic, he says, is always sympa-
thetic. that is, the belief that like
creates like This sympathetic
magic is divided into initiative and
contagious kinds The idea of the
broken mirror supposed to denote
shattered soul, Is an example Of
initiative magic. The mirror and
soul were identified as one and the
7unernatural initiated the natural
In breaking.
PTBLIC NOTICE