This is a close-up effect, with a history that greatly enriches the simplicity of this effect. I have a dear friend, who I knew a long time ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma: he was a park keeper; he told me about an old custom, told to him by his grandparents, to whom their grandparents had told it, and then their grandparents ... Cherokee Indians.
And the story I want to tell and create with you, is an ancient propitiatory ritual, the "Ritual of the Red Moon", in which the tribal chief, the sorcerer, and all the villagers took part. Every year, at the beginning of summer, at the time which, for them, coincided with the beginning of a new harvest year.
Tablets of pieces of leather were used, engraved with images and symbols typical of the Cheyenne culture. A village child was the main actor: the youngest child was chosen, sometimes even a few months old, because he represented the best part of the village: he was a symbol of youth, of the future, of hope, he was without malice and without prejudices; a true positive symbol.
You will be the village sorcerer: we will perform the ritual with a deck of cards and an object dear to you.
I was inspired by an effect by Jim Steinmeyer, which I then distorted and made my own; I don't hide the satisfaction: among all my effects it is the one that excites me the most!
1st edition 2023, PDF 13 pages.
word count: 2247 which is equivalent to 8 standard pages of text