Fushigi

I had been lusting after this strange little ball since it came out this winter. But at $39.99 there was no way I could justify getting it. Maybe you have seen it, it is called a "Fushigi" and was sold in places like CVS. On the box it looks like it is floating in the air between the man's two hands.

I assumed it was a static electricity ball and that is how it did that. I was fascinated because a) if you know me and know me well you know that I have a bizarre fondness for balls (no jokes please). I used to have quite a collection of them - porcelain, wood, ceramic, clay, rubber, plastic - just an odd quirk. I find it deeply relaxing to roll them around and they are all of a specific size. B - I am into any kind of dexterity-type activities. I have read tons about how manual dexterity exercises are useful for emotional management and after years of boxing and ironworking I need to keep doing exercises with my hands or the arthritis and joint pain can just make it hard to use my hands for anything.

So yesterday I was at my café and I had like this spiritual moment where the skies opened up and a voice said "Go thee to CVS and you will find something." So, I walked across the street to CVS and felt like I had to roam up and down the aisles and lo! As my vision revealed, there was the small clearance area and the Fushigi marked down to $5.

How could I resist? It was divinely inspired.

I was good. I went back to the café and finished my work for the day and only then did I open the box. When I took the ball out I set it on its little stand like it was a dangerous little animal. It was not what I expected. It did not generate static electricity. It was heavy. It is almost mirror like but not really, not in a perfect sense. And I just sat there going "What the hell is this thing?"

After reading two pages of warnings about using it and possible injury that could occur I decided (in a fit of maturity and self-control) to wait till I got home to watch the instructional DVD.

A Fushigi is a hand polished contact juggling ball. It is mirrored so that as you manipulate it, the illusion that it is floating or under its own power is created. If you ever saw "Labryinth" with David Bowie, there are several points where he has a small globe that he is spinning or is flying up and down his arms - I always thought that was a bit of special effects - its not, he is manipulating a Fushigi ball.

Now I have to get a mirror because the key to the illusion is to hold the ball in one point in space while you move around it.

I am sure I will probably drop it on my toes.

But it is incredibly relaxing to practice with because you have to focus on one thing and one thing only. Lose the focus and the illusion becomes unbelievable.

And isn't there a ton of metaphor and application in that?


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