The Not-So-Simple Matter of Magical Perception

I should say that I want to be perceived as a magician rather than being perrceived as a person merely skillful.

I don’t want audience members arriving at the conclusion that I am skillful before any part of an effect is complete. If, when I am done, their perceptions include those of great and magnificent skill, I would prefer they arrive there long after the fact.

Every person on this planet has their own way of filling in the "holes" that magic creates. I believe that how individuals fill them in depends on the accumulation of their entire life's experiences being brought into focus at the very instant the magical hole presents itself.

And this is where the rubber meets the road. Tricks done that require a great deal of skill telegraph this said requirement unless the magician puts in considerable amounts of time and effort to erase all their evidences. If there are evidences of skill, then audiences tend to fill in the holes by saying to themselves, “Oh, well, this person is very skillful” right in the middle of the performance.

This is not magic.

Please fix yourself on this... 3 or 4 years worth of practice, maybe more, to erase all evidence of skill...

And for what?

Well now, that just depends. Do magicians desire to be perceived as a people skilled in the use magic, or do they just wish to be perceived as people merely skillful?

If the audience arrives at the conclusion that I'm skillful before the effect is done, there is a good chance that there is a gap (and a big gap) between perception and intent. That means that there is a gap between presentation and effect.