Magic Circle mystery re expulsion of outspoken 'mindreader'

emad · Post by **emad** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:46 am

Magic Circle wrapped in a cloak of intrigue and mystery over expulsion of outspoken 'mind reader' By Oliver Duff Published: 17 September 2005 It is wands at dawn in that most secretive of societies, the Magic Circle, where the world's finest conjurors are embroiled in their biggest bust-up yet. The tale of alleged betrayal and brazen double-bluff revolves around one Spyros Melaris, a "mind reader" who was last year controversially asked to collect his top hat and rabbit and close the door behind him. He refused to quit, insisting that he was a whistle-blower on dirty tricks at the highest level. The membership is divided over his eviction and he is threatening to resolve it in court. The events have sparked a row over the future of the Circle, which some say is run by an elitist, tyrannical clique and "lodged in the 1950s". The Circle is adamant that Mr Melaris, 46, was expelled for "bad behaviour", but he insists it was for calling time on the former president, Michael Bailey, and his friends. Mr Melaris drew attention to a potential conflict of interest - the Circle museum's curator, John Fisher, a friend of the late Tommy Cooper, is also a leading collector of magic memorabilia - and accused Mr Bailey of abusing his position to get re-elected. Mr Melaris was voted out by a sizeable majority of the Circle council's members in May last year, for his "unfounded" claims - a decision upheld by almost three-quarters of the global membership, which includes the Prince of Wales. But he has support from a number of senior magicians, including Ali Bongo, who was behind Paul Daniels' successful 1980s television show. Several hundred members turned up at an emergency meeting to show their support. He now plans to sue 14 members of the council for breaching his "human right to a fair trial" and "bad-mouthing" him in a letter to the membership. His lawyers expect to serve papers later this year. "All I've ever done is love the Magic Circle and be a generous, popular member," he said. "Everyone knows it's been a travesty of justice. I will not go down in history as doing something wrong and getting kicked out. "They don't think I'll do it; I've been told they're calling my bluff. But we're in the process of issuing writs to each member who signed the letter." He wants a retraction and reinstatement. One of his supporters, Jack Delvin, 73, a council member, said Mr Melaris had been thrown out for asking a lot of questions. "Two or three [council members] ... have gone too far over the top in trying to keep power. It was far from a unanimous decision to throw him out. He was badly treated," Mr Delvin said. Bongo, then a council member, said: "I didn't agree or want to be associated with what they were about to do. I hate these splits. We all do the same hobby and profession." Mr Bailey preferred to keep his cards close to his chest, following the club's motto, Indocilis privata loqui, (not apt to disclose secrets), to the word. He said: "The behaviour was so bad; it was the passing of unfounded rumours which affected a number of people on council." He added that there was "absolutely no chance" of Mr Melaris being let back in: "No. He has produced the worst kind of behaviour the society has seen in its history." Many members disagree, however, and some are questioning the Circle's future. "They try to sack members they don't like, who tell the truth or get in the way of their grand plan, [which is] to continuously look back on the glorious days of the 1950s and hang on to the power they have to massage their pathetic egos," one senior magician said. "Look around the membership and count the number of black faces, women, working-class people ... They have a rigid dress code and wonder why young people don't turn up. There are problems with prejudice and intolerance. "Someone needs to rattle the bars of their cage. They don't own the club." 100 years of secret tricks * 1905: 23 magicians gather at Pinoli's restaurant, London, to form the Magic Circle, swearing a pledge that prevents them discussing the methods of conjuringoutside the circle * 1909: David Devant, its founder and first president, is expelled for revealing secrets in a magazine * 1975: Prince Charles joins after performing a cup and ball trick * 1991: Women are admitted, after a campaign by Stacey Lee in the 1980s * 1994: John Lenahan is expelled for exposing the three-card monte trick on television * 1998: The Circle moves to new purpose-built headquarters in Euston * 2004: One member is expelled and three resign after their involvement in The Secrets of Magic, a show explaining the mechanics of tricks. Months later Spyros Melaris is expelled * 2005: The Magic Circle celebrates its centenary It is wands at dawn in that most secretive of societies, the Magic Circle, where the world's finest conjurors are embroiled in their biggest bust-up yet. The tale of alleged betrayal and brazen double-bluff revolves around one Spyros Melaris, a "mind reader" who was last year controversially asked to collect his top hat and rabbit and close the door behind him. He refused to quit, insisting that he was a whistle-blower on dirty tricks at the highest level. The membership is divided over his eviction and he is threatening to resolve it in court. The events have sparked a row over the future of the Circle, which some say is run by an elitist, tyrannical clique and "lodged in the 1950s". The Circle is adamant that Mr Melaris, 46, was expelled for "bad behaviour", but he insists it was for calling time on the former president, Michael Bailey, and his friends. Mr Melaris drew attention to a potential conflict of interest - the Circle museum's curator, John Fisher, a friend of the late Tommy Cooper, is also a leading collector of magic memorabilia - and accused Mr Bailey of abusing his position to get re-elected. Mr Melaris was voted out by a sizeable majority of the Circle council's members in May last year, for his "unfounded" claims - a decision upheld by almost three-quarters of the global membership, which includes the Prince of Wales. But he has support from a number of senior magicians, including Ali Bongo, who was behind Paul Daniels' successful 1980s television show. Several hundred members turned up at an emergency meeting to show their support. He now plans to sue 14 members of the council for breaching his "human right to a fair trial" and "bad-mouthing" him in a letter to the membership. His lawyers expect to serve papers later this year. "All I've ever done is love the Magic Circle and be a generous, popular member," he said. "Everyone knows it's been a travesty of justice. I will not go down in history as doing something wrong and getting kicked out. "They don't think I'll do it; I've been told they're calling my bluff. But we're in the process of issuing writs to each member who signed the letter." He wants a retraction and reinstatement. One of his supporters, Jack Delvin, 73, a council member, said Mr Melaris had been thrown out for asking a lot of questions. "Two or three [council members] ... have gone too far over the top in trying to keep power. It was far from a unanimous decision to throw him out. He was badly treated," Mr Delvin said. Bongo, then a council member, said: "I didn't agree or want to be associated with what they were about to do. I hate these splits. We all do the same hobby and profession." Mr Bailey preferred to keep his cards close to his chest, following the club's motto, Indocilis privata loqui, (not apt to disclose secrets), to the word. He said: "The behaviour was so bad; it was the passing of unfounded rumours which affected a number of people on council." He added that there was "absolutely no chance" of Mr Melaris being let back in: "No. He has produced the worst kind of behaviour the society has seen in its history." Many members disagree, however, and some are questioning the Circle's future. "They try to sack members they don't like, who tell the truth or get in the way of their grand plan, [which is] to continuously look back on the glorious days of the 1950s and hang on to the power they have to massage their pathetic egos," one senior magician said. "Look around the membership and count the number of black faces, women, working-class people ... They have a rigid dress code and wonder why young people don't turn up. There are problems with prejudice and intolerance. "Someone needs to rattle the bars of their cage. They don't own the club." 100 years of secret tricks * 1905: 23 magicians gather at Pinoli's restaurant, London, to form the Magic Circle, swearing a pledge that prevents them discussing the methods of conjuringoutside the circle * 1909: David Devant, its founder and first president, is expelled for revealing secrets in a magazine * 1975: Prince Charles joins after performing a cup and ball trick * 1991: Women are admitted, after a campaign by Stacey Lee in the 1980s * 1994: John Lenahan is expelled for exposing the three-card monte trick on television * 1998: The Circle moves to new purpose-built headquarters in Euston * 2004: One member is expelled and three resign after their involvement in The Secrets of Magic, a show explaining the mechanics of tricks. Months later Spyros Melaris is expelled * 2005: The Magic Circle celebrates its centenary <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article313209.ece">news.independent.co.uk/uk...313209.ece</a>

emad · Post by **emad** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:52 am

Maybe a chum of the US military's psychic spying unit (Major Ed Dames, General Stubblebine etc) ?? How much was Poodle paying him and will Cherie Bush QC now defend this guy's 'human rights' in court? Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=emad@rigorousintuition>emad</A> at: 9/17/05 9:56 am

Dreams End · Post by **Dreams End** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:18 pm

"mindreading" is a type of stage magic. The "Amazing Kreskin" is an example. For example, I could ask you to think of a number between 50 and 100....make both digits even...and make sure the last digit is higher than the first. Got your number? Good...is it 68? Good ones will be more sophisticated than that, of course. I've lost respect for most stage magicians who depend on huge, expensive illusions built probably by someone they contracted out to. Closeup magic still rules, though. By the way, I've seen on the net some "tips" for fake mindreaders...how they induce you to reveal clues about yourself that they then feed back to you. This doesn't suggest that all such "psychics" are fake, but it does suggest that you should be careful out there. At least when someone is on stage, he's not messing with your life.

emad · Post by **emad** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:17 pm

Along with Uri Geller and General Albert Stubblebine's psychic military spies trained by Major Ed Dames, much western military policy in the last 20 years has been directed by psychic bunkum from such fraudsters. Blair's inner circle is on record as having been dependent on 'mystics', 'visionaries' and 'healers' in the run up to the Iraq war. Wouldn't discount the possibility that Cherie's astrologers - like Nancy Reagan's before her - had a role to play in the WMD famtasy.

Watchful Citizen · Post by **Watchful Citizen** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:00 pm

"...some are questioning the Circle's future. "They try to sack members they don't like, who tell the truth or get in the way of their grand plan, [which is] to continuously look back on the glorious days of the 1950s and hang on to the power they have to massage their pathetic egos," one senior magician said."

Dreams End · Post by **Dreams End** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:43 pm

okay, these are stage magicians...are you all not getting that or is there some notion that stage magicians are part of a plot?

Watchful Citizen · Post by **Watchful Citizen** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 6:06 pm

Here's an article about a famous magician who advised the CIA back when it was first formed on the fine points of sleight-of-hand and other principles of deception. <a href="http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Articles/Mulholland.html">www.frankolsonproject.org...lland.html</a> The Sphinx and the Spy: The Clandestine World of John Mulholland This was covered in 1977 Senate hearings on the CIA's MKULTRA experiments, too. <a href="http://www.parascope.com/ds/documentslibrary/documents/mkultrahearing/mkultraHearing03.htm">www.parascope.com/ds/docu...ring03.htm</a> Transcript: TESTIMONY OF ADM. STANSFIELD TURNER, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE >snip< Fourth, four subprojects on the aspects of the magician's art, useful in covert operations, for instance, the surreptitious delivery of drug-related materials. >snip< It only makes sense, doesn't it? Deception is an art and a science now used to govern the USA.

professorpan · Post by **professorpan** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:25 pm

What the article discusses is nothing more than a petty fight between stage magicians. I know a lot of magicians. Most of them are pricks, some are assholes, and a tiny few are nice people. Magicians have notoriously huge egos, and they fight and bicker incessantly. And the "mind reader" in the article is a practitioner of a sub-category of magic known as "mentalism." I perform as a mentalist occasionally. There's nothing sinister about it -- it's entertainment that simulates ESP, nothing more. Many sleight-of-hand magicians dislike mentalists because what mentalists do seems much more real and "magical" than making sponge ball rabbits jump from hand to hand, so I'm not surprised to see the Magic Circle magicians turning on a mentalist. To extrapolate that there is something dark and malevolent about a bunch of old fart magicians playing dress-up in their clubhouse is absurd.

slimmouse · Post by **slimmouse** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:34 pm

Nice to hear from an 'insider' so to speak Prof. A question for an insider. Youre thoughts on Edgar Cayce ?

professorpan · Post by **professorpan** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:29 pm

Cayce was a genuine mystic, from what I can tell. I really don't think he was a fraud. I know many smart people who know much more about the Cayce material than I do, and they have a deep respect for the man's work. I'm leery of most channeled material, but Cayce's stuff has heart, and in my eyes is elevated far above most of the bland homilies that pass as "channeled wisdom."

Dreams End · Post by **Dreams End** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:09 pm

plus, Cayce was channeling before Channeling was cool.

rain · Post by **rain** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:20 pm

Cayce didn't 'channel', he read the Akashic. and IMHO, altho he read relatively 'true', he was also relatively blinkered.

rigorousintuition.ca

Magic Circle mystery re expulsion of outspoken 'mindreader'

Magic Circle mystery re expulsion of outspoken 'mindreader'

At last those pesky WMD sources getting their comeuppance?

Re: At last those pesky WMD sources getting their comeuppanc

Those mindgames make people a lot of $$$$$$$.

Sounds exactly like the CIA, for gawd's sake!

Re: Sounds exactly like the CIA, for gawd's sake!

John Mulholland, the Magician who trained the CIA.

Magicians

Prof

Cayce

Re: Cayce

um, slight correction