Magi Theology | The Essence of Illusion

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Author, magician, and speaker David Russell discovered the fascinating correlation between the art of illusion and the truth of Jesus Christ and His Church. There has never been an examination of this topic, true to the teachings of the Catholic Church until now.

Transformed by His Blood

Transformed by His Blood

There is a dark presence in this world. It shows itself with acts of violence, greed, lust, envy and it seems to be only getting worse.

But I have a message of hope for you.

The darkness has already been conquered by light.

The answer is right before our eyes and it starts with you.

As individuals, we must admit our guilt, turn to God with our whole heart and obey His command; Love one another.

Then all that is dark will be brighter than the sun.

It almost seems too simple but we have made it so complicated.

Do you really think humans can solve this on their own? With human ingenuity, more rules, more force, more power?

No! It was the surrender of human power, through Jesus Christ, and the shedding His blood which makes this solution to human misery possible.

I beg you, don’t delay, repent and be faithful to the Gospel!

February 6, 2013

Illusion of Prediction

“The true prophet has no need for the things of this world.”

Prediction is an illusion performed by magicians known as
mentalists. They fake the ability to read thoughts and predict
the future. One routine I perform involves mailing a prediction
in a sealed envelope certified by the postal service. The person
receiving the envelope is usually a person of authority who is
attending my show. That person receives the envelope in the mail
and holds it until the day of the show. During the performance,
he brings the envelope in and attests that it has remained sealed
and in his possession since before the date of the performance.
Upon opening the envelope, the prediction is read, and it usually
involves something that has happened that day and couldn’t
possibly have been known beforehand. My most memorable
prediction was correctly guessing the exact date that the United
States began bombing Afghanistan in 2001. During one show, the
local police chief held my prediction in a sealed, certified envelope
and attested to the authenticity of my claims. Needless to say, the
audience was amazed at how I knew, weeks in advance, the date
that the bombing would start. The truth is I didn’t, but the illusion
was pretty amazing.

It’s easy for me to admit that I have no special powers of
prophecy. What’s frightening, though, is the number of people who
really do claim psychic powers. There are many stage magicians
who perform mental tricks and never claim actual psychic powers,
although there are some who never admit that what they do is
an illusion since their very personae and reputations rely on this
illusion.

January 8, 2013 Read More

Love Divine

December 7, 2012

Illusion of Restoration

“We must learn that pieces in our lives exist for restoration.”

Excerpt from Magi Theology: The Essence of Illusion

There were many areas of my own life that needed restoration—
my marriage, my health, my finances, to name a few. Each of these
parts of my life was broken and restored. Maybe your life has no
separate pieces and appears to be whole. If so, congratulations; you
need not read any further. However, if you’re honest with yourself
and see separation in your life, this book will help you find the
answer. The illusions in our lives are not evil in and of themselves;
they are an important part of life. Without them, we wouldn’t be
able to recognize the truth, once we are introduced to it, by seeing
beyond these illusions.

November 10, 2012

The Illusion of Transportation

“The destination of the transportation illusion is here and now.”

Excerpts from Magi Theology: The Essence of Illusion

In a transportation illusion, an item seems to disappear from
one location and reappear in another. For example, I can make
it look as if a coin dissolves in my hand and appears behind your
ear. That’s a pretty basic form of this magic trick. Some stage
magicians present the illusion on a larger scale. A magician might
disappear from the stage, only to suddenly reappear at the back of
the auditorium. In this case, the venue is larger, the object being
transported is bigger, but at its essence, it’s the same illusion.
How do transportation illusions manifest themselves in our
daily lives? The answer lies within our own minds. The mind is
the master “wannabe” illusionist. It is totally fixated on carrying
out the transportation illusion and wants us to believe it can make
it happen. The mind tries to perform transportation for us all the
time, and although it seems real to us, it remains only an illusion.
And it is a source of untold stress in our lives.
Let me give you an example: You’re driving to a very important
appointment, but you get a late start. You need to arrive in 15
minutes, but you already know it will take 20 minutes to get there.
With just a bit of luck, you could catch all the green lights and
arrive close to the scheduled time. But this is when the master of
transportation illusions begins its performance, and you start to
imagine yourself arriving late. You envision hitting every red light,
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while every slow driver has decided to be out on the road at the
same time as you. You see yourself struggling with the traffic. You
see problems finding a parking spot and the look of disappointment
on the host of your appointment as you walk in late. You’re not
in the car more than a couple of minutes before your mind, the
master of illusion, transports you into this stressful scenario.
Even though such thoughts are only in our heads, they are
similar to the coin-behind-the-ear trick. Neither actually occurs in
reality. The coin at no time really vanishes, and you don’t necessarily
end up late for the appointment. More often than not, everything
works out better than you imagined.
The mind performs these transportation illusions with more
regularity than you might realize. Our thoughts would like to
make transportation a reality, since our bodies cannot actually
perform them (although the Catholic Church has documented
cases of transportation, such as Saint Rita of Cascia, who was
miraculously transported into a locked convent by her patron
saints. But for those of us still developing our saintly nature, the
ability to transport ourselves seems limited to our automobiles).
To vanish from where you are and appear in another place is not
possible, but try telling your mind that. Next time you have a
conversation with someone, become aware of how many times you
take a trip in your mind. This can take place almost any place and
any time. Our mind is generally free to transport us to any place
other than where we actually are right now.

October 14, 2012

The Illusion of Appearance

“Life becomes interesting and more playful with the knowledge of illusion.”

Excerpts from Magi Theology: The Essence of Illusion

“To a person under the power of illusion, a typical day may
appear to be very ordinary. But for us empowered by God, it is
a joy and an adventure. Our creations become His creations. His
creations acknowledge His supremacy, and we begin our work
to create, with His guidance, a new heaven and new earth. It
wouldn’t be possible if He hadn’t allowed it to be this way through
the illusion of appearance.”

“If you believe you have any power to control the world, you are
living in error. It is a great sin of pride to think we have any power
of our own. The Lord states in the Gospel of John 15:5, (emphasis
added), “I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains
in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me, you
can do nothing.” Our control over the world is very limited. Our
control over the power of creation is also limited.
Of course, the scientific community would disagree, as
they look forward to solving all problems through science and
technology. What an ego man developed. It’s like the Tower of
Babel all over again. “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves
a city…and so make a name for ourselves’” (Genesis 11:4). We
cannot expect to make solutions appear and problems disappear
without the humble admission that we cannot create a world free
of disease, starvation, and war under our own power. We must
admit we were fooled by the illusion of appearance and that we
need to rely on the Creator to guide us.”