What is the Way of the Showman?

It is a Way to understand how circus and Showmanship can be a Way of life. The main expression for these ideas are in the form of a podcast.

Some background:

The concept for the Way of the Showman came from my imagination. Yet, as I develop it, I realise that it is not some kind of frivolous flight of fancy. It springs from the kind of imagination that connects a human being to the world, and in this case, this Way connects me to the world.

Over the years I have been writing short stories, novellas, and a couple of novels, all of them still kept secret. All my stories are set in traveling carnivals and circuses and the thing that ties them all together is a secret society of showmen with their own world view and occult, hidden philosophy. The Way developed as the stories, tales and rituals unfolded from my imagination. In this world the work of carnies, freaks, and circus stars is meaningful and deep, and filled with hidden purpose. Their place in the world is grand and important.

This probably mirrors the fact that, in the real world, the circus and carnival arts are not known for being deep and meaningful. At least not in public opinion. One of the most frequently asked questions a Showman gets after a show is “is this what you do for a living?” A Showman’s art is frivolous and fun, and because it looks as such, it’s assumed to be so. It’s hard for people to imagine it being a “real” job.

I am deeply interested in philosophy, religion, and I have a true love for science and particularly evolution. I also have a deep fascination with the occult and the history of western esotericism. All this blends together in my fiction and non fiction writing.

The Way might have sprung into existence as the philosophy of a mythological secret society of Showmen, but, like with all aspects of the carnival, what is true and what are lies, are so seamlessly blended that it is impossible to separate.

At the carnival a woman’s beard might not be real, but presented just right, we love to believe the lie.