0 MAGIC WORDS The Sorcerer is skillful and disciplined and puts considerable time and energy into his magical work. He evokes the element of Fire. The Sorcerer is interested not only in his art but also in honing his skills in stagecraft and the theatrical arts. Modern- day sorcerers include Jonathan Pendragon, Siegfried and Roy, and Lance Burton. Many magicians choose to move into the discipline of the Sorcerer after they've explored the archetype of the Trickster to their satisfaction. In the age cycle of the magician, the Sorcerer represents approximately the time of the twenties through the forties.29 Unlike the Trickster, who loves pronouncing magic words with tongue planted firmly in cheek, the Sorcerer tends toward the serious in his articulation of magical vocabulary. He favors those weighty and mysterious syllables handed down from Egyptian priests and European wizards: Abracadabra, Akrammachamari, Anthropropolagos. The Sorcerer means for his words to sound strange and incomprehensible, for that's part of the mystique, and it makes for sound showmanship and colorful pageantry. Even if he prefers a silent routine, his grand gestures, intricate choreography, exotic costumes, requisite props, and dramatic musical accompaniment serve the same purpose as a mouthful of syllables. Every aspect of the Sorcerer's performance is part of the ritual -- a ritual as old as humankind, playing out our primal quest to understand, influence, and control the great powers of the universe. The Oracle The archetype of the Oracle is associated with those mesmerizing magicians who specialize in hypnotism and concern themselves with the psy chological aspects of magic. As McBride puts it, The Oracle is more interested in matters of insight and intuition. The elemental correspondence of the Oracle is Water. The Oracle explores subtle techniques of mentalism and psychology. Exploring the depths of the collective unconscious are modern-day Oracles like Max Maven and Alain Nu. The Oracle represents the middle age in the magician's life cycle, approximately age forty to sixty. 0 By contrast with a Sorcerer's spectacle, designed to fill the most generous stage and eclipse the grandeur of the most opulent theater, the Oracle's greatest feats never actually take place -- except in the minds of the audience. The Oracle's vocabulary contains magic words that instantly mesmerize the spectators, dazzling them from the inside out. Following on our Akrammachamaris and suchlike arcana, a surprising example of an Oracle's magic word is vacation -- a friendly, familiar word that causes people to "momentarily spirit 29 Jeff McBride, Mystery School (200 ) 0 Ibid.