The History of Levitation
Before
the world became scientifically advanced with
knowledge, people often believed in strange phenomenons.
The ability to “float” or “levitate” has been
recognised with great interest throughout the
ages. Spectacular stories and even realistic events
have been recorded in history. Different classes
and races of people have enjoyed the power of
levitation, whether it be African tribal leaders,
or world famous magicians such
as David Blaine and Copperfield.
Monumental religions, including Christianity and
Islam have reported extreme magical powers – including
levitation. The biblical references often hold
fascinating stories behind them. It is believed
that in the first century a man named Simon Magnus
levitated himself in view of St. Peter as a challenge
to prove he possessed magical powers. Levitations
were also documented many years before the creation
of Christianity, in the religions of Buddhism
and Hinduism. Levitations during the medieval
period were also not rare occurrences, and were
often connected with “dastardly practices” such
as witchcraft. Had David Blaine performed his
levitation during the medieval era, I’m sure he
would have been brutalised by the locals.
As many centuries passed – the ideas of levitation
were not dissolved, and lived on. During the late
19th century Levitations were often connected
with poltergeist cases. Spiritualism also helped
in promoting the phenomena. The infamous Daniel
Dunglus astonished hundreds of people after allegedly
levitating out of a third-story window. Had David
Copperfield performed his levitation over the
Grand Canyon at this period of time – I’m sure
he would be remembered as the great Satan!
With the sudden advance in intelligence and technology
– acts of Spiritualism, such as levitating were
often counted off as personal hallucinations or
frauds. With this knowledge, magicians began incorporating
self-devised Levitations into entertaining magical
acts.
In present day, Levitation is often referred to
as “street magic” and
has lost its spiritualistic attributes.
However, statistics show that a large number of
people in the modernised
world still believe in real life levitations.
If one were to visit the inhospitable areas of
tribal Africa and South America one would come
across daily occurrences of spiritual acts such
as levitation. Whether the accounts are real is
questionable – but the power of levitation is
definitely not to be mistaken.
Present day – Now, every man, woman or child can
recreate powerful history by learning to levitate.
There are plenty of resources available, and you
can’t go wrong with current marketed effects including
Ellusionist’s “
King Rising Levitation”
and Peter Lougran’s “The Elevator”.