Dreaming in Maven

A Bizarre Dream

I once had a dream about Max Maven telling us — I don’t remember who “us” is — a story. In the story he talked about a time that his mind was opened by some experience. He described it as having his “brain beaten back to salt.” Who knows what that means? The really odd thing was that as he spoke, it was very much in his real-life tone and mannerisms.

My dream perfectly captured the essence — – at least what I think is the essence – — of what makes up Max Maven. As he was telling the story, he gave that Max Maven look-in-the-eye and said, “This, my friends is a $1000 dollar story…” I don’t remember anything after that. When I woke up, the strangest thing to me was how accurately my dream portrayed him. It was a very strange moment and an overwhelming feeling that I couldn’t shake for quite some time.

What does the dream mean? Who knows? However, I did discover that apparently when you dream about salt it means “You are experiencing increased worth and a higher sense of zest and vigor.” At least that’s what it means according to the Dream Moods website. Eerily enough this site has been pretty accurate interpreting my dreams in the past.

Here’s what I think happened. I’m a big fan of Max Maven. I love the way he thinks; I love the way he creates; I love just about everything about his performance persona, his creativity, etc. There was a time where I was heavily studying his material, written and video. I was heavily immersed in him as a being, as a performer, as a creator and more.

It’s no wonder I had a dream about him that accurately depicted his persona. Further, I find the reference to salt a little too spookily accurate. I was experiencing an increased worth and higher sense of zest and vigor at the time. Studying Max Maven has been very inspiring and uplifting and boosted my creativity as a performer and creator. My quality of effect and magic in general became better and more meaningful and powerful while studying Maven.

Root:

Let’s Remember Our Roots. The Root: Study the Mavens. A maven is an expert in any particular industry. Max Maven is certainly that in our art, but he’s not the only one. He’s one who “speaks” to me. Who speaks to you? If you don’t know, it’s because you haven’t studied enough. It is the quintessential purpose of this column to tell you to study the masters of our craft.

That is why this column exists. Over the years, I’ve come up with several creative (hopefully) ways to say this, but the message is nearly always the same: find a root in magic and grow it to branch out on your own and make it your own.

Branch:

Let’s Build Our Branches. Your Challenge: Find someone in the history of magic or in the current world of magic who “speaks” to you, someone who inspires you, someone who influences you to be a better performer, creator, thinking, etc.

Who this person is only matters to you and nobody else. Once you find him/her, devour their work. Read their books; watch their DVDs; watch their shows. Remember the world we live in; you can watch their shows (likely) online. Do not “become” your inspiration, but rather let them create the best you by understanding pieces of them. Let them be seen in you, but don’t be them.

Now got study the classics and go discover your true magical self.