Athanor
ATHANOR
MAGAZINE
Published quarterly by Mary
Tomich & Vince Wilson
No aspect of this publication may
be produced physically or
electronically unless in
conjunction​ ​with a review.
Submissions are enthusiastically
encouraged.
Send submissions to/from:
www.athanormag.com/contact
ATHANOR
Mary Tomich
Vince Wilson
A​bout a year after Altar Flame ceased publication in 2003, I entertained
the idea of publishing another magazine. However, other priorities forced
this dream to the back burner. Fast forward to 2020 and a conversation
with Vince Wilson about the lack of a regularly published magazine for
bizarre and storytelling magic. Vince was interested in creating and
publishing one and asked me if I’d like to participate. Of course I did!
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Athanor, a magazine aimed at
magicians/performers for whom magic is more than just the trick! The
purpose of Athanor is to provide magicians with a venue to explore themes
and techniques to more fully engage audiences in the area that’s been
traditionally called “bizarre magic.” First of all, what’s with the name? We
liked the role the athanor played in alchemical experimentation.
For those not familiar with its function: it’s a tall, slow-burning, self-feeding
furnace. Once filled with coal, it can run for a very long time without any
human supervision, allowing the alchemist to perform long-term
experiments.* The idea for Athanor the magazine is to bethat furnace,
transforming ideas and stories.
We plan to publish Athanor quarterly, coinciding with the four classical
elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, this issue. We are committing to one
volume of four issues. If interest and support are sufficient, then Athanor will
continue to burn.
Athanor will be available via print on demand via magcloud.com. After it’s
printed, the magazine(s) will be mailed to you. Initial issues will be eight
pages and we’ll expand as appropriate. Submissions are always welcome.
Submitters whose story/effect is published will receive links and bios on the
official site, and in the print magazine, not to mention the fame and acclaim
that goes with being published.
We hope that you find this quarterly tome interesting and worth your
while.​
Yours in the betterment of the art,
Mary Tomich & Vince Wilson
Volume 1., Issue 1. - Table of Contents
An Imp & a Gangster
By Vince Wilson 3
The Solomonic Banishment
By Dan Eckhart 5
How to Stain a Wooden Box
By Paul Prater 6
Devil’s Dice Plague Presentation
By Jim Magus 7
Will Thy Heart Cherish...?
By Mary Tomich 8
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 Athanor
 

An Imp & a Gangster

By Vince Wilson

The Story  The Imp 

Th​ ey say that real magic is leaving this world. Some
Perhaps you might be upset that I call this exactly
even say that it never was. Nevertheless, there was a
what it is. An Imp Bottle. That is the name of the
man who believed in never-was. This man was
effect. I just thought it was already perfect.
perhaps the greatest unsung hero of modern magic
and mysticism - Anthony Masklyn.
Here is what you need to know
about Masklyn - his magic was
Much of Masklyn’s youth has been lost to posterity.
good. Too good. Even masters
We know that he came from a humble background in
of Illusion like Dante and Dai
a poor area of Chicago and was born just before the
Vernon were baffled and
First World War sometime in 1914. He managed to
perhaps, a little frightened by
stay out of World War II in part due to an unknown
Anthony Masklyn’s skills as an
criminal record. Rumor has it that it was from
illusionist; a talent that seemed
robbing graves at Resurrection Cemetery in Chicago.
to cross from amazing to
At some point in his teens he became fascinated by
supernatural.
magic and the occult. There are photographs of
Anthony Masklyn with the greats like Cardini,
Masklyn was performing at the infamous Green Mill
Dunninger and Dante! Even now we do not know if
Speakeasy in Chicago for Gangster Al Capone.
he was learning from them, or they from him.
Masklyn was only sixteen at the time and had just
returned from a six month trip to India. It was there
Friends who knew Masklyn always said he was an
that he learned to master the Cups and Balls and
honorable young man, if a bit odd. Anthony began
collected an artifact that he would carry for the rest
performing for small parlor shows around the age of
of his life. Something he called an “Imp Bottle”.
thirteen. Sometimes he would open for larger acts,
but mostly he was an “underground performer.” In
From a letter by club co-owner Jack "Machine Gun"
the late 20s and early 30s you could often find him
McGurn:
performing at Speakeasies in Chicago, New York and
Baltimore. However, he was known to take breaks to
“Al is not smart. Clever and smart ain’t the
travel to Europe and Asia to explore his increasing
same thing. He was good at runnin’ booze,
fascination with the mystical arts. Anthony often
but not much else. But I was there and I was
returned with exotic items and tales of adventure as
gonna let this kid Masklyn pull one over on
well as “things that were best unsaid.”
Al. Al didn’t mind, he loved tricks! But this
ain’t no trick he did. This was somethin’
else. I’m just glad a priest weren’t there!
They wouldn’t have liked it one bit.

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 Athanor
“Anyways… Masklyn starts tellin Al about
this little weird bottle he picked up in India.
He tells him it has a imp in it. Like a little
devil. You know? He says that it might have
belonged to King Solomon from the Bible. I
don’t mind tellin ya, as soon as he said that,
I was doin’ the Sign of the Cross! So this guy
tells Al the imp’s power has been fading over
the years. There ain’t much juice left
basically. Years ago, it could steal gold and
treasure or fly you around the world. Now?
Just loan some power to the owner. Just
enough to do some magic or obey your
commands. So, Masklyn takes the bottle,
leans it on the table and in front of Al
Capone. He says, “stay” like you’d say to a
dog! It just lays there. We all laughed! This
ain’t no trick we thought! Just a joke. But! In
the top of this bottle there’s a little piece a
paper. Masklyn takes out the paper and
whispers somethin’ inside. I cannot make it
out. Some weird language. He puts the paper
back in the bottle and hands it to Al and tells
him to do it. “Alright Al, you are a person of
considerable influence, please if you would,
make it stay.” Al takes the bottle and
chuckles. He places it on the table and leans
it down and tells it to “stay”. It don’t stay! It
springs back up and kinda wobbles back and
forth! Al kept doing it over and over. “Stay,
stay, stay” he yells. The little bottle just
keeps popping up. Eventually Al gives up. He
laughed and gave the bottle back. It ain’t
over yet!
“Masklyn takes the bottle and whispers
somethin’ else in it. He puts the paper back
in again and puts it right in the center of his
right hand. With his other hand he snaps his
fingers and the bottle tilts in that direction!
He starts pointin’ at the bottle and wherever
he moved his finger, the bottle followed.
Finally, this guy Masklyn puts the bottle
back in a little black pouch and then in his
4
pocket. Capone looks at him. He ain’t
laughin’ no more.
“Al looks at Masklyn and says, “an imp”?
“Like… From Hell?” I swear, Al turned
whiter than this here paper you’re readin’
this on. “Hell… is real?” This “kid” looks at
Al right in the eyes, which ain’t somethin’ I
don’t even do, and says, “Mr. Capone, you
were raised in the Catholic faith. What do
you think?” The kid just tips his hat and
walks out the door. Al must have sat there
for a good ten minutes before he got up
again. I ain’t never seen nothin’ like that.”
The Imp bottle comes from most suppliers as a plastic
toy that looks exactly like a red and white fishing
lure! If you bought my complete set, you have my
hand aged version of this. Otherwise I recommend
paying a little extra for a wooden one. All Imp Bottles
work on the same principle- they are made in such a
way that just a little extra weight on or near the top
will keep in a horizontal position. Without the added
weight, a ball bearing or weighted bottom, the bottle
will just bobble back and forth. The included Imp
Bottle has a little metal rod in the stem that weighs it
down. When you hand it off, let the rod drop into your
hand and then do your preferred palming technique
to hold it. Then you can safely hand it off to your
volunteer. ​
Vince Wilson is a prolific Bizarre &
Storytelling Magic creator/performer
from Baltimore.
www.vincewilsonmagic.com​ |
www.poesmagic.com
 Athanor
 

The Solomonic Banishment

By Dan Eckhart

I​n this effect, the Mage will combine ritual magick This is, of course, accomplished via the billet switch,
with sleight of hand for an emotionally resonant easily achievable while fetching the red waxed string
experience. The Mage will instruct the sitter in the for binding. The Mage may wish to perform a ritual
creation of a sigil to banish their fears or anxiety. This over the sigil before burning it after the sitter departs.
is done according to the magickal process of
innovative occultists, Peter J. Carroll and Phil Hine, in
which an affirmation is reduced to a symbol via the
elimination of vowels and removal of duplicate
letters. For example, the sentence, “I am debt free”
becomes, “mdbtfr”. MDBTFR would then be
assembled into a sigil by arranging and connecting
each letter into a shape that no longer represents
MDBTFR. See the copy of the sigil below, as well as
Carroll’s work for further esoteric study. The Mage
would then have the sitter draw such a symbol on a
piece of paper, then fold the paper into quarters with
the drawing on the interior. The exterior would be
signed by the sitter, as well as the mage, and then
wrapped in a thin, waxed, red, string.

The mage would provide the sitter with the following

instructions, explaining that for the ritual to be
effective they must take the bound paper home and
walk it through each room of the house, before
placing it under their pillow while they sleep. In the
morning they must arise and burn sage over the paper Dan Eckhart is an Esoteric Entertainer
and say a simple prayer asking for the attainment of based in the Baltimore area. He works
their desire. Then they must unwrap the string, open frequently with his wife Kat. Their work is
the paper, and burn it.
focused around ghost tours, theatrical
The next morning, upon opening their bound and occult demonstrations, and private
signed sigil, the sitter will find that the sigil they drew seances/readings.
has gone missing, and in its place the words “be at
peace” now appear.
www.theEckharts.com

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 Athanor
How to Stain a Wooden Box
By Paul Prater
T​o start with, you can either make a small box or you can save
a lot of time and go to one of the big art and craft stores and
pick up a small wooden box for under a dollar. This is the
route I chose.
These boxes are unfinished wood, so you will need to do
something to make them look a lot better than they do when
they are purchased from the store.
I have read before that the key
to making wood look old isn’t
in beating up the item, it is in
the finish. I also believe this
to be true, so I use a light hand
on scuffing up the box.
My first step to aging the
boxes was to stain each of them using Minwax Golden Oak.
This is a fairly light color and provides a good base to build
on. Once I applied the first layer of stain, it was then time to
start beating them just a bit.
I poured a bunch of rivets onto my workbench and banged the
boxes onto the rivets. This gave a nice random set of divots
and marks. Then, I took the boxes to my belt sander. I took
down the corners and edges of all of the pieces. I didn’t go
overboard, just enough to take the brand new sharpness off of
them.
Now it is time for another layer of stain. I used the same stain
to cover the wood that was laid bare by the sander.
After wiping off this layer of stain, I wanted to go darker. I
also roughed the boxes up a bit more with the rivets. I really
liked to look and decided that a little more damage would be
all right. So after beating them up a bit more, I moved to
Minwax Old American stain. I applied two coats of this stain.
6
While the boxes were darker, they still didn’t quite have the
look I wanted. I needed more dirt from handling and being old.
So, I took some black acrylic paint and applied it to a paper
towel. I then rubbed all of the boxes down with the back
acrylic paint. I used very little paint and very vigorous
rubbing. I wanted to rub the color into the grain and not leave
any on the surface of the wood. This really gave me the look I
was going for.
After this round of stain, I wanted to do something to make
them look a bit more like the old finishes. Wooden cutouts
like those on the tops of these boxes would have gunk in them
from time or from multiple layers of finish, polish, or other
grime. So, to replicate this, I wiped the boxes down with
Johnson Paste Wax.
You can get this in the
cleaning aisle of the
grocery store. I use it for
all kinds of things.
I applied the wax
particularly heavily on the top, rubbing it into the corners.
After this, I did one final application of the Old American stain
and left the stain on without wiping it down, for about an hour.
I then wiped the boxes down. The combination of wax and
one final coat seemed to tone down the black somewhat and
really pull the finish together.
Paul Prater is a master mentalist and
bizarrist creator from Arkansas.
www.PaulPrater.com
 Athanor
Devil’s Dice Plague Presentation
By Jim Magus
I​ picked up the Devil’s Dice from Blind Eye Magi
at the fifth East Coast Spirit Sessions, and by the
time I got home from the convention I realized the
number that is forced by the dice is the year of the
Great Plague, so this is the presentation I created
for them.
“Do you have a
calculator app on
your phone?
Great." The
performer displays
a larger bag that
holds three smaller
bags, some
wooden dice, and
a folded slip of
paper. The folded slip of paper is set aside.
"Please bring up the calculator app while I bring
out three small bags that could signify the Trinity;
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For our sake,
let's hope they do represent the trinity, because the
rest of the bag holds nine Devil’s Dice. Each of
the dice holds just one number, from one to nine."
The dice are displayed with their number showing,
in numerical order, on the tabletop. They are
turned number side down and the spectator is
instructed to mix them face down. Once they are
mixed, the performer explains "We will put three
dice in each of the three bags, again using the
number of the trinity to protect us from the devil
dice." He takes three of the dice and places them
in one bag, another three dice into another, and the
final three dice into the last bag. The bags are all
shaken so the dice are further mixed. "Now, which
bag do you want to choose from first; red, blue, or
brown?" The spectator is offered a free choice.
7
"Select any one of the dice from that bag." The die
is placed on the tabletop with its number displayed
on top. "Now which bag is the second to choose a
die from? Again, select any one of the dice. Now
the final bag." The process continues until all the
dice are displayed in three rows on the table top.
"Through the numbers you freely chose, we have
created three three-digit numbers. Please use your
calculator app and add the three numbers." The
spectator adds the three numbers on his telephone.
The performer takes the folded slip of paper that
had been placed aside earlier, and begins unfolding
it. “During the winter of 1664 a bright comet was
seen over the London sky, and many people were
fearful that it was an omen of something bad to
come. It was." The slip of paper is unfolded to
exhibit an old illustration titled "Plague of 1665."
"In the Great London Plague of 1665, one hundred
thousand people died, a quarter of the population
of the city. The devil walked the streets of
London." There is a pause for impact, and then
the performer points out on the calculation, "If you
take the one and five and add them together, you
have the number 666." He turns over the slip of
paper to reveal the number "Six Six Six, the
number of the devil!"
Jim Magus is a prolific Bizarre Magic
performer, creator and scholar.
www.JimMagus.com
 Athanor
 

Will Thy Heart Cherish...?

By Mary Tomich
The Story  want things to work.” As she did earlier, Margery
placed a few in a separate pile then placed the
Sara and Jeff saw the drab sign on a nondescript remainder on top. As a way to further personalize
storefront: ​Fortunes and Compatibility Tests $15.​ the process, both Jeff and Sara repeated this action.
Margery counted five for Sara and placed the five
After entering, they were greeted by the proprietor, remaining pieces in front of Jeff.
a middle-aged woman named Margery. They
explained they wanted a compatibility test and “Whether you’re compatible is based on an
were ushered into a small, cozy room off the main important question, essentially ‘Will thy heart
room. After ensuring they were comfortably cherish?’”
seated, Margery placed five blank pieces of paper
of approximately business-card size on the table
along with a pen. The test had begun.

“Compatibility is more than just getting along,” she

said, “it is underpinned by having characteristics in
common.” Pushing the papers toward the couple
she asked them to share five characteristics that
they thought were important in a relationship.

After some discussion the list emerged and was

recorded on the papers: “Helpful, honest, kind,
reliable, and humorous.”
“Your subconscious will help personalize this list.
Here’s how we’ll do that.” In one action, Margery
placed a few of the papers in a separate pile, then
placed the remainder on top of the separate pile.
Turning to Jeff, she requested he follow suit, then
Sara. “You determined where you divided it. Your
subconscious made the suggestion...kind of an
auto suggestion.”
Margery took the papers and carefully tore them in
half, saying, “Ideally these traits are shared and can
be influenced by your subconscious if you really
“Here’s how you will find out. The first word:
WILL –For each letter one of you—it’s completely
up to you—will place your top piece on the bottom
of your set. One of you will do this for each letter
in the word,” she emphasized. “You can alternate
between you or use some other order, e.g. for two
letters or more in a row—as long as you both agree
who does it.”
“W...I...L...L,” as Margery said, each letter either
Sara or Jeff placed a piece under the rest they held.
After the last letter was done, Margery instructed,
“Take the top piece on your sets and place them on
the table next to the other.” Sara and Jeff complied.

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 Athanor
The process was repeated for the remaining words
of the question (THY, HEART, CHERISH) until
they each had a single piece. As before, each was
placed on the table adjacent to the other.
Margery said, “During this test of compatibility,
you both decided who would take the action and
when. Each of you please take the piece at the top
of your column and turn it over.
‘Helpful.’ Both halves matched! The woman
instructed, “Now please turn the next two halves.”
‘Humorous.’ Another match!
“It seems that we are outside the realm of sheer
chance at this point. OK, the third card…
Wow, I have not seen this happen frequently at all.
You are doing very, very well.”
Moving to the next set, the woman continued,
“Now for the fourth set... Again, you have
managed to match your pieces!”
“Of course that means that you’ve both managed to
connect the final set. I don’t think I need to tell you
what that means! Each of you please keep these
traits to remind yourselves of the importance of
cherishing each other’s heart.”
With that statement, Margery collected her fee and
disappeared behind the bead-curtained doorway.
9
Method 
The method will be obvious to anyone familiar
with Bob Ostin’s ​Auto Suggestion​. Despite Auto
Suggestion’s seemingly random process, I was
intrigued by how the two half cards would match
to make a complete car at the conclusion of the
trick. It wasn’t until I read Lewis Jones’ book
Encyclopedia of Impromptu Card Forcesthat I
finally understood the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the
methodology behind Auto Suggestion.
Here are the key factors for the method:
1. One pile must be a mirror image of the other
pile. This is accomplished after the five papers are
torn by individually counting the first five pieces
into a stack on the table, thereby reversing them.
The remaining five remain in their current order
and are simply placed in front of the second
participant. The idea is there’s no need to count
them since there are ten and you already removed
five.
In the steps leading up to this mirror image
arrangement, you can single-cut the stack of ten
halves any number of times because the overall
order is not disturbed, just the starting point. The
starting point is immaterial here. Think of a stack
of numbers in the order 1 through 10. Any number
of single cuts will not disturb the basic sequential
order, it only changes what card is at the top—we
don’t care.
2. A down/under style of deal is used. For each
letter spelled, one of the participants takes his or
her top piece and places it underneath the his/her
set. It matters not who does it as long as for each
letter a single piece is shifted from the top of the
set to the bottom of the set (aka the down/under
deal).
 Athanor
3. After the shift for the last letter of the word is
done (i.e. someone has shifted apiece from the top
to the bottom of their set), both parties place the
top card of their set on the table. As noted in the
story, this process continues for the rest of the
words.
repeat the move at the appropriate time. No need
to make a production of it; you’re just recreating
the jumble of human emotions.
Page 11 has the “nuts and bolts” of the count so
you can create your own words and/or questions.​

As for the mixing of the papers before they’re torn,

it looks good but has no impact on the trick. The
post-tear mixing, on the other hand, must be single Mary Tomich i​ s a pioneer in Bizarre
cuts so as not to alter the order of the stack. So, if Magic (& Magick for that matter) and
single cuts are done for all mixing, the consistency
is well respected in the field.
of action does not arouse suspicion. First you do it,
to show the participants how to do it. Then they

End​.

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 Athanor
 

Customize the Count

In ​Will Thy Heart Cherish​ I used a seemingly
random counting method based on Bob Ostin’s
Auto Suggestion.​ The “how to” explanation for
creating your own question or statement is below.
NOTE: For each spelled word, you must shift one
less card than the number of cards in the pile, e.g.
if there are four cards in the pile, you must have
three card shifts. Otherwise your word must have
sufficient letters in it to completely cycle through
the set so that it’s back to the order in which it
started. The chart below should help you
understand the methodology.
The table, below, provides an in-depth map for
creating a custom question.

# of Cards # of one-card Action

in Pile (N) shifts (down/ (between the 2 Number
under) (S) sets)

5 4 Shift of 4 cards Will​ (4 is one less than N). ​If a different length
across the sets. word is desired, then S + N, i.e. 5+4 will work)
because it reorders the set back to its original
order.

4 3 Shift of 3 cards Thy​ (3—one less than N). If different length word is
desired, S+ N or S+N+N, e.g. 3+4 (7) or 3+4+4(11)

3 2 Shift of 2 cards Heart​ (5—S + N ). Two-letter words are few so a

different length word is desired. The formula is S+N,
i.e. a 5-letter word. Or S+N+N, i.e. an 8-letter word.

2 1 Shift of 1 card* Cherish​ (7). One-letter words are rare so a different

length word is needed. The formula is S+N, i.e. a
3-letter word. Or S+N+N, a 5-letter word, Or
S+N+N+N, a 7-letter word, etc.

1 0 Shift of 0 card
*How many one-letter words do you know?

The question: “Will thy heart cherish?” conforms Cherish = Shift of one card + shift of two cards +
to the formula: shift of two cards + shift of two cards. You can use
Will = shift of four cards a five-letter word, e.g. adore, instead. As long as
Thy = Shift of three cards the letter count equals the formula.
Heart = Shift of two cards + shift of three cards

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 Athanor
 

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