I.B.M. Ring 362
The Maine Mystics
Bangor, Maine

Ring Report
January 20, 2008

The January Meeting was held at the Friars' Bakehouse in Bangor, Maine. Members were asked to perform storytelling magic to the theme of A Winter's Tale ("A sad tale's best for winter").

Dr. Wilson wove together three pieces inspired by Baba Gede Nibo's Vodu Magick to tell the tale of a bit of time spent in post-Katrina New Orleans as a Tarot card reader. Brother Don Paul played the part of a troubled client, who mixed the Tarot cards, then got a very nasty three-card reading, revealing that a curse had been laid on him by a bokor, a powerful Voodoo practitioner. Dr. Wilson obtained the bokor's spell box, containing a number of scary objects and a crude divination deck. The deck twice revealed a curse on the client before Dr. Wilson tore up and burned the Cursed card. The card turned up again! In one last attempt, Dr. Wilson gave Brother Don a clear crystal sphere to hold while reflecting on the thorn in his heart. As the curse was lifted, Brother Don opened his hand to discover that the crystal had turned black!

Professor Miller told the tale of a wandering mountebank in days of old, skilled at Three Card Monte, which he played with two Fool cards and the Ace of Coins. The mountebank made the mistake of swindling a Gypsy, who cursed him so that he always lost. Reduced to ruin, the mountebank once again encountered the Gypsy. He begged to have the curse lifted. The Gypsy offered to play him at his own game. She showed two cards, and asked him to name the third. When the mountebank turned the last card, it had changed to the Death card, and he paid with his life.

Danny Baker, Maine's Funniest Magician, presented a much lighter version of Three Card Monte before telling a funny story about four worn-out props at the bottom of a traveling magician's prop bag.

Scot Grassette showed a number of interesting antiques discovered while rennovating an old church in Rumford, Maine's Capital of Magic: bottles, a set of school slates, some keys, and an old book with a photo inserted between the pages. Intrigued by people in an old photo, Scot invoked the spirits. One of the keys turned slowly in his hand, and writing appeared on the old slates.

Brother Don Paul told the tale of a dream in which he met a woman in a cafe who said that she had been waiting for him. Revealing herself to be one of the Fates, she showed a length of thread representing his life. She named various errors in judgement that had shortened the thread, tearing short lengths from the thread for each misdeed. She rolled the torn bits into a ball and twisted them onto the middle of the thread. When he awoke, he was much disturbed to find the thread on his nightstand, but as he pulled on it, it was restored to its original length.

Full details of the business meeting and photos are available on the Ring's web site (www.ibmring362.org).