Until You Walk The Path, You Won’t Know Where it Goes will be chatting with magical dual Bobby and Jeramy Neugin on May 2, 2013 at 1 pm eastern as they talk about how they reclaimed their Native American heritage and how doing so influenced their careers.
Bobby and Jeramy Neugin, a father and son professional magic duo have performed throughout Oklahoma since making their debut two years ago. Located in Historic Lost City Oklahoma, They are the only Father and son professional magic act as well as being the only Cherokee performers, a rich heritage of Cherokee magicians going all the way back to their ancestor Rebbecca Neugin, the last surviving member of the Trail of Tears, who was known to dabble in magic and speak to helpful spirits known to the Cherokee as ‘the little people’. In order to make them stand out even more, they do tricks that no other magicians perform, including incorporating as many of their Indian legends as possible into the magic.
Known to perform dangerous illusions live, previous audiences have seen them describe Cherokee legends that involve bursts of fire followed by live swarms of red wasps emerging from the palms of their hands, Jeramy cutting his father Bobby’s arm, with live scorpions crawling from the wound, five foot black snakes hatching from hollow eggs, drawings of snakes becoming alive and crawling from the page at their command, smashing their hands on cups hiding deadly spikes, swallowing needles and razor blades, pulling dreams and nightmares from audience members heads while they hold a dream catcher, and their signature trick, Bobby setting his son Jeramy’s head on fire, burning him to a skull, and restoring him to life. Besides performing close-up, stage, and street magic they are also the only magicians working to preserve their Cherokee culture with magic. Because they are constantly growing and expanding their knowledge, they rarely perform the same show twice for any given audience.
The Native Americans always had people involved in magic. Shaman, Medicine man, witch, Conjurers- Each one was a specialized field, separate from each other, while all shared each of their beliefs. None used them more than the Cherokee. The Conjurer was known as the High Priests to the Cherokee People. They were called 'Conjurer' to others. They spoke to the dead, Guarded their people against the Supernatural, communicated with spirits in nature, as well as those that had departed from this world. They Spoke to and dealt with 'The Little People', helpful spirits to the Cherokee, similar to fairies and ghosts. They also predicted the fates of the tribes' members as well as the outcome of battles. They were the tradition keepers, the story tellers and the historians, using Magic and illusions as visual aides. They were an important part of Cherokee culture, as both adviser to the chiefs and to the people until 1801, when missionaries declared them evil and magic was wiped from our heritage. By 1820 Most Cherokee were practicing all the white ways of life, little regard being paid to what the white missionaries described as "heathen rites". Few Conjurers held on to the traditional beliefs and ways. In 1838 the removal called "The Trail of Tears" took place, one of the darkest most shameful events in U.S. history. Cherokee were forced out of home with just the clothes on their back, if that. Further knowledge of the Conjurer was lost. What was retained was only what they could remember. The missionaries were again waiting for them when they arrived in Oklahoma. It seemed the ways of old were long gone. Or so they thought. Some survived. Passed down from generation to generation. We are determined to bring the magic back to the tribes. We are the last two Conjurers left of the Cherokee Nation.
The interview will be available in the archives at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theresachaze/2013/05/02/until-you-walk-the-path-you-wont-know-where-it
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