Wikipedia:WikiProject Magic

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Welcome to the Magic WikiProject on the English Wikipedia! The Project was set up with the aim of significantly improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to magic as a performance art. If you would like to join us, please feel free to add your name to the list of project members. But perhaps the most important thing is to look around the current articles and contribute wherever you can.

Goals

To significantly improve Wikipedia articles related to magic as a performance art and to maintain their content and quality.
To get pages to featured status
A long-term aim to make a WikiReader

Scope

The project generally considers any article related to magic as a performance art to be within its scope. The project is specifically not concerned with magic in the context of a mystical or occult phenomenon. Topics such as wicca, the occult, mysticism and magical realism are outside its scope.

A more detailed description of the scope, and our primary focus areas within it, may be found in the sections on project structure.

Structure

The term structure is used here to mean the overall organisation of the project, the categorisation of articles, and the internal structure of articles. The project began with a very loose structure but, in order to reduce confusion, efforts are being made to be more rigorous about this aspect of the project. Full detail can be found in the "Structure" section below.

Guidelines

The sections on structure and Magic methods/Exposure constitute guidelines. These have been established following discussion among editors and are derived from general Wikipedia policies and guidelines. It is important that they are followed.

Structure

WikiProject Magic assessment statistics

Magic articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
Quality	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA				1			1
FL				1			1
FM					2		2
GA		1	1	3			5
B		7	4	11		2	24
C	2	11	27	51		10	101
Start	2	11	36	171		136	356
Stub	1	5	22	63		126	217
List	1		2	3		6	12
Category					331		331
File					2		2
Project					6		6
Redirect			1	3	41		45
Template					26		26
NA					3		3
Other				1	10		11
Assessed	6	35	93	308	421	280	1,143
Unassessed						33	33
Total	6	35	93	308	421	313	1,176
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 3,568			Ω = 5.07

worklist • log • category

The structure of the project is reflected in a structured set of categories that fall under the main heading - Category:Magic (illusion). Among other things, these categories will be an attempt to reflect generally accepted branches of magic.

The internal structure of any particular article will depend upon the type of article.

Magic Collaboration of the Week

Every week, a new page is selected as the Magic Collaboration of the Week. Voting is open to all Wikipedia editors.

Types of article

Main articles

These are articles that give a broad overview of the whole subject area. They help to define the project. They include:

An overview of magic as a performance art (Magic (illusion))
Timeline of magic
List of magic tricks

General magic topics

These are articles that have relevance to themes in a significant number of other articles within the project but which are more specialist in nature than the main articles. Current examples and future possibilities include:

Magician biographies

Hopefully a self explanatory heading. Articles within this section of the project should have regard to Wikipedia's general guidelines on biographical articles WP:BLP and to the guidance for WikiProject Biography. The following additional guidelines apply:

Notability should be considered in terms of notability within the field of magic
Magic biographies should be placed in categories within Category:Professional magicians
If the subject is or was a noted specialist in a particular branch of magic then the article can also be categorised within the relevant branch.

Performers needing pages:

Magic tricks

These should be placed in Category:Magic tricks and may also be categorised into one of the branches of magic - (see below), although this is not essential. In rare cases a trick might be relevant to more than one branch.

The following are guidelines on the structure of an article about a trick:

It should begin with a brief statement that the subject is a magic trick and giving some general description, such as the area of magic it falls within and whether it is classified as a "vanish", "restore", "penetration" and so on. If it is associated with a particular performer or inventor then that should also be made clear in the introductory paragraph.
The second section should be a description of the trick as it is perceived by the audience.
There should ideally be a section on the history and origin of the trick.
Any publication of methods must follow the specific guidelines on methods set out below (see #Magic Methods and Exposure).

Magic publications

All articles within this section should be put in the main category - Category:Magic publications, whether or not they are also placed in sub-categories. Currently, we are making a large push for properly formatted and cited articles pertaining to the more obscure magic publications/periodicals.

Magic organisations

This includes Magic clubs - (need to merge these categories + re-categorise articles)

Television shows

Articles on notable magic shows. These should be placed in Category:Television magic shows

Branches of magic

Branches of magic are included as sub-categories within Category:Magic (illusion). (However not all sub-categories of Category:Magic (illusion) are branches of magic).

Grand illusion
Stage magic (there might be some debate about where this overlaps Grand illusion)
Parlor magic
Close-up magic
Street magic
Mentalism
Escapology
Card magic (currently referred to as "Card manipulation")
Bizarre Magic" or "Bizarre Magick"

Sub-types within "Close-up"

Coin magic

Parentage

Relating to magicians - WikiProject Biography

Relating to performance - WikiProject Arts

Descendant WikiProjects

Currently there are no descendant projects.

Participants

7&6=thirteen (☎) 15:53, 29 January 2018 (UTC) I created List of magic museums and American Museum of Magic, La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin. Lots of magic museum articles. Helped on Cardistry. Plus several DYKs for Houdin and Houdini-related articles.[reply]
Bddmagic (talk) 17:54, 30 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Elonka - magic conventions, living magician bios, and deleting non-notable bios
Nsmith 84 (talk) Want to see card magic in its own article again, separate from Card manipulation. Also think Flourish should be merged into Card manipulation. Theres a lot I think needs cleaning up on the magic pages, I'll help out as much as I can.
Circusandmagicfan - I'm a collector of books and materials rather than a magician. I'm intersted in design and methods for large illusions. Also history of magic and swindles, scams and cons. In addition I have an interest in aspects of circus (for example impalement arts)so maybe I can help if ever topics overlap into that area. I'll try to contribute where and when I can.Circusandmagicfan 20:33, 15 February 2007 (UTC)Circusandmagicfan[reply]
Deflagro I will help what I can, won't help nor look at articles with exposure though. Will try and help with articles on magicians and that sort of thing.
Bddmagic Amateur magician; past V.P. of IBM Ring 266 (Tyler, Texas)....presently serving 2nd year as that Ring's Ring Reporter; avid reader and student of magic history and magic literature; magic book library = approx. 45 titles.
₪ ask123 {t} I don't have much experience with magic but am interested in illusions and tricks. As far as exposure is concerned, I have no problem with it, as long as the methods are accurate and from the originator. Exposuring a magic trick in a Wiki article is kind of like revealing the plot of a movie in a Wiki article. A good movie article will have a concise description of the film's plot (and without "spoiler alerts," since a plot description must be expected in an encyclopedia article). It's just my opinion, but, similar to an encyclopedia article about a movie, a good encyclopedia article on a magic trick should have a concise description of how the trick is done from the perspective of the performer. Of course, the method must be cited, i.e. it must be the original method crafted by the originator of the trick.
Michael Pascoe (talk); Thank you for adding me to your list. I have added a few bios of the greats in our art. I hope to add more as time permits.
Skeptic sid Will push for more commons content and history of magic content Skeptic sid (talk) 23:24, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Steve Drury Co-founder of PSYCRETS British Society of Mystery Entertainers. Performer, author and consultant. Can assist with mentalism, storytelling and bizarre magic entries.
PriceDL (talk) 10:39, 19 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
PhantomRed I have substantial experience in magic and mentalism. I am hoping to revamp WikiProject Magic, and overhaul magic-related articles on Wikipedia. I substantially expanded The Magic Castle.
Magus314 Look forward to being involved! I've made contributions to several magic pages, just started to expand Mentalism and will continue to work on this one and others whenever I'm able. I've been involved in magic as a hobby for 30+ years, and also have my own collection of magic/mentalism books and training DVDs.
SVnative Over 20 years of experience with magic - performance and sales. Looking to contribute to expansion of magic related wikipedia pages and submit/write new ones, in particular biographies.
User:Worldish2024 I think Anime magic should be fictional magic.

Inactive

Census performed in December 2017 – users with no contributions for more than 12 months have been moved here. PriceDL (talk) 12:56, 29 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Mgm|^(talk) (founder) Currently AWOL?
Asbestos | Talk (can contribute a little on Coin magic)
filx | talk
LegendsEnd (talk) | (@) -- Contributing to card flourish. Currently created list of flourishes and explained Card Spring.
MagicValentina (talk) | (@) -- Contributing to List of magic effects. Have currently created entries on The Pass, Cups and Balls, The Thumb Tip, and The Square Circle. I've started the Wiki list of conjuring terms. I'm an experienced magician and I passionately believe in the Wiki ideals of open knowledge. I'm not a member of SAM, IBM or any restrictive organisation, so I'm free to contribute to the knowledge pool as required by Project Magic needs.
Tiksustoo 01:01, 21 November 2005 (UTC) I have been assiduously editing just about every item on list of magicians. I am a 'highly knowledgeable' amateur but want to contribute my skills as a wordsmith and editor. Please go check out my edits (and Afds i have put up!). I am however getting magic fatigue or withdrawal fever on account of the truly awful pages I have tried to wikify. I was on the point of calling it a day but thought I should log in for solidarity.[reply]
Krash (talk) Might as well list myself here after all this time. History of tricks, magicians. Blatant exposition of effects. Sorting/categorizing/formatting. Obsessed with notability, cruft and deletionism.
Kingofspades (@) -- I'm an experienced Magician who has a great knowledge of Card Magic. I intend to contribute anyway I can really, in the hope of improving all the magic related pages on Wikipedia, especially those concerning card magic and sleight of hand.
T e nnessee Wood
Deadferrets
Wootking
User:Kismetmagic I've added pages on micromagic, Gospel Magic, Torah Magic, Br. John Hamman, Platform magic, Children's magic and Tarbell Course
DTGardner
User:GTrendall I might be able to help on card magic
Smoothini Accomplished Magician with a wide range of knowledge.
Kosmoshiva(talk)
BWatkins (talk) Hobbyist performer, but have read widely and am good at research
User:Jameskgordon I have been performing as an semi-proffesional magician, I have a very good knoledge of close-up and parlor tricks
VIQleSthe2nd (talk) 22:52, 9 January 2008 (UTC) - I joined (rejoined) specifically with the goal of adding and expanding magic on Wikipedia. I've created Magic Club, Shore City Magicians Club, and Alan Watson (magician). I've added the project box to those pages - i assume they all fall under the scope. (If not feel free to remove them.) I've also created a lot of redirects, some of which were to fix the capitilisation of some of the titles. Fixing those might be a task for the project (I don't know what the procedure is to fix page titles re caps...)[reply]
Robertusrex (talk) Magic is a hobby of mine and I especially love illusion. I have a reasonable knowledge and plan to contribute whenever I can.
User:Kazuba History of magic and the paranormal. Spirit mediums, Ancient history. Jesus, Paganism to Christianity, Bibilical Archaeolgy, Psycholgy and human needs, Order of Merlin.
n8pilot16 (talk) Professional magic experience. Solid knowledge of card magic, sleights, principles and theory.
User:StephenBuxton. I've been doing some tidy up work on Magic (illusion) - remonval of POV, OR and so on. I will be happy to help out on other articles. One thing I will not be doing is adding any methods. My professional area of expertise is rubber band magic, close-up in general, and kids magic. Unfortunately, most of my knowledge is by definition OR, but I will do my best to help with the overall quality of the articles.
User:Protocoldroid. Most interested in card magic (and flourishing), close-up, and performance art with audience interaction (it's clowning!). I'm an avid reader (and newbie collector) of books on magic (performance and methodology). I'll be first starting conversation and adding references to the "card manipulation" article. Great job so far guys!
User: Iclavdivs . I have a relatively magic library that will be useful for citation.
Freedominthought. I am a magician, deeply involved in Bizarre Magic. I have materials published in trade periodicals and a book. I am also a significant collector of Bizarre Magic and have an extensive library. Created the topic of Bizarre Magic and contribute to surrounding topics and biographies.
~ theoneintraining (talk) -- I will add external links to video's.
MotivationalMagic (talk) 20:32, 25 July 2008 (UTC) Full-time corporate magician and illusionist. Would like to volunteer to work WikiProject Magic areas of stage illusions, current full-time nationally known illusionists, and bios of notable professional magicians in Las Vegas, and in the New York / New Jersey / Pennsylvania areas.[reply]
Greeney - Magician with a few years experience. Can contribute to pages about cardsitry, card & coin magic, and magician biographies. Won't help with exposure, but I'll remove unsourced methods.
User:Hexhand
Lee Asher (talk) | (@) -- I'm joining this project in conjunction with the MagicPedia project. It's my belief that leaving quality breadcrumbs for future generations is one of the best ways to make them care about the culture of our rich ancestry and art. It's our job, as the ambassadors of the off-line and online magic world, to build digital bridges to anyone who cares enough to look. Use the tools of today, to teach the youth of tomorrow why the magicians of yesterday are worth knowing. Oh yeah, I like card tricks too!
A More Perfect Onion (talk); I enjoy watching magic.
Gautier lebon; I'm planning to contribute an article on Peter Marvey, who is a champion prestidigitator and has created new flying illusions.
User:Septemberfourth476;Magic in the Medieval / Early Modern Period
Jansen09 : I'm planning to contribute on this project for magic amd to advance and promote it. i also want to contibute on a magician named Phil Tawa.
Michael Feldman I will try to bring more awareness to this project and help expand currently sparse articles. Also, there currently appear to be some notable gaps in the list of famous magicians.
E PONCE ::VANISH::
Papillion Magique I'm very new to Wikipedia, but I hope I can help with this project. I'm a magician/magician's assistant, as well as the secretary of a magic club.
Utcumque Magician and researcher in history of magic.
JurassicJoe Is a huge magic enthusiast, who can assist with card trick explanations. Can also write a brief history on playing cards if needed.
Olly Irwin I'm a magic lover and ready to help however I can. I'm French, so I can translate any article into French. I have in my possession many magic books, and will be happy to upload some card tricks and methods (Paul Curry, Ascanio, Giobbi)

Special guidelines

Magic methods and exposure

The publication of magic methods has proved controversial and so it is especially important that any attempt to do so should adhere strictly to the established policies and guidelines that are Wikipedia's foundation. The following aspects must be considered:

Attribution

If information about a method is quoted from another freely available source then it becomes more difficult for magicians to argue that Wikipedia is the point at which exposure is occurring. Proper citation of sources should also help to defend Wikipedia against any action for breach of confidentiality. In addition, some unsourced information on methods that has crept into Wikipedia appears speculative and inaccurate, which undermines the quality of the Magic Project generally and contravenes WP:NOR. It is therefore especially vital to adhere to WP:Attribution.

Intellectual property

Because the concept of intellectual property often forms part of arguments about exposure of methods and because magicians have occasionally resorted to the courts in an attempt to suppress publication of methods it is important that attention is paid to relevant areas of law. Generally "methods" (i.e. choreography of covert movements, not to be confused with industrial and scientific methods) cannot be protected by copyright but any particular description or presentation of them can be. The Wikipedia policy on Copyright problems deals with part of this but there might also be additional issues to do with information that is covered by laws on confidentiality (eg. this might be because it is covered by a non-disclosure agreement but could also be because, in some jurisdictions, there are laws that automatically give certain information a confidential quality).

Note: This section does not pre-empt proper legal advice, which Wikipedia already has provisions for. Neither is it intended to be taken as an argument in favour of prior restraint. It is merely intended as cautionary advice. Before adding material concerning methods, contributors should take reasonable steps to confirm the material is not covered by copyright or confidentiality. There might be debate about what constitutes "reasonable steps", but to some extent the solution again resides with application of WP:Attribution.

Rapid action

If a method is added to an article but no reference is provided the following from WP:Attribution will apply:

"Any edit lacking attribution may be removed, and the final burden of evidence lies with the editor wishing to add or retain the material."

Given the sections above about controversial material and original research this can be applied immediately and overrides the practice of tagging information as unsourced and then waiting for a period to see whether citations are subsequently provided. A request for sources for a method should be placed on the talk page. Only when a full citation can be provided can the method be added to the article. It is recommended that a link to these guidelines be included in the message.

The editor placing a note on the talk page may also include a link to the edit difference that removed the secret. The editor may also include the removed secret as part of the post on the talk page. If the latter action is taken, then the {{Magic secrets}} template must be added at the top of the talk page, just below the {{Magic}} template.

Action for secrets exposed on article talk pages

Secrets are sometimes discussed on the talk pages which may or may not be accurate. Do not delete these, as this is classed as editing other people's words, and is not permitted unless they violate copyright. Instead, add the {{Magic secrets}} template at the top of the talk page, just below the {{Magic}} template.

Resources

Websites

I thought it worth mentioning that there is a wiki on magicians called Magicpedia, and it may definitely be of some use to this project. Arctucrus (talk) 19:29, 23 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is also a German wiki dealing with the art of magic called Zauber-Pedia --Artius (talk) 06:23, 6 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Project templates

The code {{WikiProject Magic}} is positioned at the top of the talk page for each article within the project. It produces a box that looks like this...

Magic

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Magic, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of magic on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MagicWikipedia:WikiProject MagicTemplate:WikiProject MagicMagic
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

The code {{Magic and Illusion}} is placed at the bottom of each article. It produces a box that looks like this...

The code {{magic-stub}} is used to indicate stub articles within the project. It produces a footnote that looks like this...

This magic-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

--
The code {{User WikiProject Magic}} is a userbox for member User pages.

This user is a participant in
WikiProject Magic.

--
The code {{WikiProject Magic invite}} may be used to invite users to join the project on their talk page.

You are invited to participate in WikiProject Magic, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Magic and illusion.

--
The code {{The Magic Barnstar|put your message here ~~~~}} is an award placed at another users talk page for improving Magic-related articles.

		The Magic Barnstar
		{{{1}}}

Article alerts

Articles for deletion

14 Apr 2026 – Outline of stage illusion (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Piotrus (t · c); see discussion (3 participants)
03 Apr 2026 – Magic in Harry Potter (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by FaviFake (t · c); see discussion (16 participants; relisted)

Categories for discussion

14 Apr 2026 – Category:Fictional characters who use magic (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by (Oinkers42) (t · c); see discussion

Articles for creation

13 Apr 2026 – Draft:Hoodoo divination (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by AbramAnder (t · c)

Current tasks

List of open tasks

WikiProject: Magic

(edit or discuss this box)

Major overhaul:
- Magic

Requests:
- Dedi
- Parlor magic
- Palming
- Cleanup/wikify:

Expansion – also check Magic stubs
- List of magicians - Presumably these could all go into Category: Professional magicians and/or Category: Magicians as well?
- List of magic tricks
- List of conjuring terms
- Alex Elmsley
- Kreskin
- Ed Balducci
- Harry Lorayne
- Jeff Sheridan
- Sleight of hand
- Spoon bending
- Jep Hostetler
- Duane Laflin
- Alan watson - Bio needed
- Marc Oberon
- Guy Bavli
- Tommy Wonder
- Ed Marlo

Merge:
- King levitation / Balducci levitation / Elevator levitation has now been merged into one article. But not yet into (Levitation (illusion))? - Several

Peer review:
- Escapology - great article, triple check content and wikify.
- Bullet catch
- John Henry Anderson
- Davenport Brothers
- Larry Jennings - wikify
- Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp - wikify
- Al Baker (magic) - wikify
- Paul LePaul - wikify
- Frank Garcia (magic) - wikify
- Milton Kort - wikify
- August Roterberg - wikify
- Jean Hugard - wikify
- Peter Kane (magic) - wikify
- Lewis Ganson - wikify
- Frederick Braue - wikify
- Stewart Judah - wikify
- Karrell Fox - wikify
- Karl Fulves - wikify
- Ralph W. Hull - wikify
- Han Ping Chien - wikify
- Ellis Stanyon - wikify
- Joseffy - wikify
- Peter Warlock (magic) - wikify
- John Ramsay (magic) - wikify
- Winston Freer - wikify
- T.A. Waters - wikify
- Ottokar Fischer - wikify
- Max Holden (magic) - wikify
- Guy Bavli

Create – also check Requested Magic articles
- Magicians:
  - David Ginn
  - Lee Grabel
  - Maybe/Local
- Magic Charity Organization
  - The Penguin Foundation (See notes in comment brackets, below.)

v t e Magic and illusion
General	Assistants Clubs Conventions Exposure Stores
Genres	Bizarre Card (techniques) Cardistry (history) Children's Close-up magic Coin Escapology Gospel Mathemagic Mental Platform Séance Stage Street
Tricks and techniques	Levitation Equivocation Misdirection Sleight of hand Pepper's ghost
Guidebooks	The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) Modern Magic (1876) The Expert at the Card Table (1902) Tarbell Course (1928–) Thirteen Steps to Mentalism (1961) Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic (1975) Conjuring (1992)
Periodicals	Abracadabra Genii Hugard's Magic Monthly The Jinx The Linking Ring Magic Magigram Mahatma Smoke & Mirrors The Sphinx
Lists	Conjuring terms Films about magicians Magicians Museums Publications Timeline Tricks
Related	Indian magicians Midnight ghost show

Wikipedia:WikiProject Magic

Goals

Scope

Structure

Guidelines

Structure

Magic Collaboration of the Week

Types of article

Main articles

General magic topics

Magician biographies

Magic tricks

Magic publications

Magic organisations

Television shows

Branches of magic

Parentage

Descendant WikiProjects

Participants

Special guidelines

Magic methods and exposure

Attribution

Intellectual property

Rapid action

Action for secrets exposed on article talk pages

Resources

Websites

Project templates

Article alerts

Current tasks

List of open tasks

See also