When I was a member of Salem's Lott, we presented a lecture to the Salem SAM Assembly 104 on Bizarre Magic. We presented a history plus discussion of what Bizarre Magick is, and then ended the lecture with several presentations of Bizarre Magick. None of the presentations were of the "dark" variety because the meeting was held in a Baptist Church. The lecture was well received, but
after the lecture, during the Q&A section, one member still wasn't sure of the difference between Bizarre Magick and GOOD magic. I responded saying that if magic is presented in the proper atmosphere, there really isn't much difference between Good magic and Bizarre Magic. I then reiterated some of the main ingredients in Bizarre Magick:-

Bizarre Magick is often presented as if it is "real". A good example
might be it imagine all of the magic that appears in the Harry Potter novels is real. Theprops often look the part. This means that a prop presented as an ancient grimoire, looks like an ancient grimoire, and not like something purchased at the local stationery store.

Good Bizarre Magick should get the participants wrapped up in the moment, so they believe anything is possible. This is the "suspension of disbelief" factor often mentioned with regards to Bizarre Magick. There is a purpose for the magick, which is often presented via the vehicle of a story.

There is often a feeling of "sharing an experience" with the participants.There is no "I'm magical and you're not" attitude in good Bizarre Magic (unless that is the "character" you are intending to portray). Notice I refer to participants, and not the audience. The
Bizarrist usually looks at those present as participants in the magickal experience.

Bizarre Magick doesn't have to always deal with occult-related topics, but often does. This is probably due to the emotional impact of the occult, or the unknown. Just look at the success of horror and mystery novels and movies.

Last of all, the Bizarre Magickian would feel the performance was a failure if he/she heard "How did he do that???" from the participants. The Bizarrist would much rather just hear "Wow!!!" from the participants.

This still didn't seem to clear up the difference between
Bizarre Magic and good magic to the person who asked the question during our lecture ... as I told him, maybe
there isn't much difference ... unless we are talking about mainstream card tricks!

Magickally,

Dave Birtwell.