"How did you do that?"

As a professional magician, I hear that question frequently, and I never quite know how to answer it.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that people are often asking a different question from what they are thinking. What many think they want to know is, "What tricky thing did you do with your hands?"

But what I believe they really want is an explanation for why the moment felt magical for them. And that's a very difficult question to answer.

Magic is deceptive, but not simply in the way you might think. The greatest deception in the art of magic has nothing to do with mirrors, trap doors or hiding places for rabbits. The biggest illusion is the one the audience creates for itself: that the method employed by the magician is the magic.

After years of performing, and even more years studying with master magicians around the world, I believe otherwise. And I'm here to expose the truth once and for all. Are you ready for the true secret of magic? Are you sure? If you don't want to know, you can look away right now. No one will think less of you.

All right then, here we go. The truth is, everything a good magician does, from the first word to the last gesture, contributes to the experience the audience has. The truth is that magic does not take place on a stage or in anyone's hands; it takes place in the minds of the audience. As a great magician once said, "I cannot do magic. I help others see magic."

Let's take another art as an example. Seeing Ray Charles live in concert is an incredible event. To me, watching him at his piano is magical. He transports me somewhere else. I'm sure most people reading this have had similar experiences with music, with theater or dance, perhaps with the visual arts.

If, after a particularly moving song, I were to ask Mr. Charles which chords he played, how he moved his fingers, and which notes he sang, of course he could show me. But would that explain the powerful experience I had while watching him? I don't think so. The power and the magic were in the way it made me feel.

The same is true with magic, particularly in the style I perform. I'm a close-up magician, which means no stage, no fancy props, no separation between me and the people with whom I share my magic. Just some playing cards, perhaps a little spool of thread, maybe some borrowed pocket change. And most importantly, you and me, standing face to face, creating an experience unique to that moment. I am absolutely convinced the magic takes place in the connections I make with the people watching me, and in the way I make you feel.

Yes, I need to have honed my craft for years, practiced particular hand movements until my fingers cramped, and worn out hundreds of card decks to prepare for those individual moments of magic, just like Ray Charles had to master his piano scales as a young man.

But the magic does not exist in those hand movements. Magic is the experience you have when a magician shares his craft with you successfully -- when he creates a single moment in time, when the impossible has just happened in front of you, often in your own hands.

If you are one of the fortunate individuals who has seen truly powerful magic, you already know what I'm writing about. You may not even remember exactly what the magician did, but you remember how it made you feel, even years later.

If you have never experienced the sort of magic I describe, I look forward to meeting you some day.

Josh Lozoff has a web site at http://www.deep-magic.com/.