FIRST WITCH
Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
SECOND WITCH
Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.
THIRD WITCH
Harpier cries “’Tis time, ’tis time!”
FIRST WITCH
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot.
⌜The Witches circle the cauldron.⌝
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
SECOND WITCH
Fillet of a fenny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
THIRD WITCH
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digged i’ th’ dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat and slips of yew
Slivered in the moon’s eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron
For th’ ingredience of our cauldron.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
SECOND WITCH
Cool it with a baboon’s blood.
Then the charm is firm and good.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 4 Scene 1
Just a moment ladies and gentlemen! A word before you go. We hope the memories of tonight won’t give you…bad dreams, so just a word of reassurance.
When you get home tonight, and the lights have been turned out, and you are afraid to look behind the curtains—and you dread to see a face appear at the window—why, just PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER
and remember that,
after all…
THERE ARE SUCH THINGS!
There are such things!
Speech after the premiere of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula
Magic teaches us how to lie without guilt.
Eugene Burger
The average magician has long since given up dread. What he requires is a sound Gothic revival!
Charles Cameron
I’d always wanted to attach the deceits of magic to the thinking of some of these very fine pulp writers of fantasy because to me that has always been the real type of magic that made people doubt reality rather than just figure it was a form of entertainment.
Tony Andruzzi
It’s not the theater of what you do it’s the people that create the proscenium arch. And the more people that are there, the more disbelief there is.
Tony Andruzzi
Either you are a magician with magical powers, or you…are…not. It is as basic as that.
Charles Cameron
“It’s the path on the left”, the bearded man said with aplomb.
“Hardly anyone goes there, but you’ll never go wrong.”
So I headed that way and to my delight,
It was just what I wanted, unlike the right
Walking that way my stature felt heightened,
My eyes were then opened and I was enlightened.
I now understood what fell short in the art
What gave me frustration and made me depart.
As I started that way, “magicians” gave me an earful,
I couldn’t understand why they’re so fearful
I was told it was something one couldn’t perform
I was told the religions would look on with scorn
I was told it was only for Halloween Eve
And the rest of the year I’d fall into reprieve.
But I soon understood their box full of “can’ts”
Belonged solely to them, and those thinking like ants.
That path on the left now gives me a way
As I walk along I see more wonders each day
I now understand there’s no magic in tricks,
It lies in the world, its quirks and its tics.
It lies within people and stories they love
It lies all around, below and above.
It’s no longer contained in the magic shop,
The ideas fruit everywhere, just waiting to drop.
That’s what I found on the Path of Bizarre,
endless orchards of magic near and far
Just waiting for a traveler to pluck and to taste
And share with the world, not letting it waste.
For we’re not purveyors of trite entertainment,
We’re High Priests of Magick, in mystical raiment.
But we don’t worship Satan or other such lies,
We show the magic of life and help people open their eyes.
For true magic lies in one’s joy and belief
In themselves and their world and the footprints they leave.
But we often forget while living this life,
There is more than just work and what causes us strife.
The Art of Magic is there to give us pause,
To help us remember when we were full of “awes”,
To give us a moment of joy and wonder
To silence our brain with a moment of thunder.
It leaves people with a spark of knowing,
“The impossible is possible” and inside them that’s growing.
Maybe it’s a little crazy to think that art can
Create that spark and begin to fan
The flames of courage and encourage the progress of man.
But only those crazy enough to do the “impossible”…
Will change the world.
“The Path Least Traveled” — RedGrave
