Term: Houdini

DEFINITIONS

Houdini: Born Ehrich Weiss (1874�1926) in Budapest, Hungary, and moved with his family to the US in 1878. At 9, he made his public debut as a trapeze artist. He also spent time working as a locksmith. Houdini started performing magic tricks professionally, especially with cards and coins, in 1891. He added handcuff escapes. Met and married Bess Rahner in 1893. He and Bess had an act where she was a psychic medium, but they abandoned it when their agent tells them to focus on escapes. They go to Europe and by 1904 he became a huge star.

Many conjurors today acknowledge that Houdini was not the best magician of his day, but he was certainly the best advertiser and publicist. Even so, by the 1920s his career was flagging and he needed a new publicity focus. Combining his knowledge of magic, locksmithing, and earlier work as a fake medium, he started to debunk small-time mediums and psychics. When he went up against well-known medium �Margery� (Mrs. Mina Crandon), a furor took place. At first, she was declared real by a scientific committee, but after Houdini participated in tests with her, the declaration was rescinded. Houdini�s assistant at the time, James Collins, alleged that Houdini had him place false evidence against her during a test. There is still a great deal of debate over Margery.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, became a friend of Houdini. However, Doyle�s belief in mediums and Houdini�s antipathy toward them eventually broke their friendship.

Houdini died on Halloween in 1926 from appendicitis and peritonitis. A recent book claims that Houdini was also a spy and that his death was murder.

ARTICLES

Spiritism

Spiritism, or as it is more commonly known, Spiritualism, is a religion which holds that it is possible to communicate with the souls of those who have gone through the transition known as death. Although some occultists would disagree with this ...

Relevance:

Review of the Dark Grimoire Tarot

Summary: As dark and mysterious as the mythic world created by H. P. Lovecraft, The Dark Grimoire Tarot is strongly recommended for those mature enough and brave enough to examine their darker sides, and by coming to know and control those aspects ...

Relevance:

Discovering Our Many Past Lives

"The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew�it passes into other habitations, for the soul is immortal." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) Have you lived before? The answer to that question is yes. As a human soul you have lived before; many of us have even experienced many lifetimes... read this article

	Seven Flower Magic Rituals
	A Quick Guide to Literary Character Creation with Mercury
	Using Apatite in Your Crystal Spells
	Exploring the Dark Side: Identifying 3 Types of Negative Paranormal Phenomena
	Evolutionary Astrology: How Our Nodal Axis Defines the Soul's Path

Most recent posts:

Is the Wiccan Rede Ethical? (Part II)
I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who commented on my previous post�concerning the Wiccan Rede. All of the comments received on it, save one,...

Is the Wiccan Rede Ethical?
Modern Paganism embraces a wide variety of spiritual traditions. One of the challenges of these traditions is that in some instances they are not...

Illuminati 9 of Swords
Each week this month, we are taking a look at the Tarot Illuminati by Eric Dunne and Kim Huggens. The 9 of Swords is not really my favorite to get...