Ezrin shifts, while still excercising caution and limiting his audience to Ethelred, at last, to material components.
“First, let us review a few definitions:
Magic is the art of changing consciousness according to Will.
Magic can be divided into thaumaturgy and theurgy, or as some say, arcane and divine respectively.
A material component is one or more physical substances or objects that are annihilated by the spell energies in the casting process.
Artificery – imbuing magic into objects, including but not limited to weapons, armor, staves, wands, tools, and more. Generally the items must be of the most excellent quality, and often made of exotic materials, and various rituals and materials are needed to permanently infuse magic into the items.
Alchemy – imbuing magic into potions, draughts, oils, etc, often requires a variety of special base liquids and other materials in addition to any of the typical components of the original incantation.
Hidden sympathies between objects that allow one to influence the other. Theurgy and Thaumaturgy share the need for material engagement. Ceremonial or ritual thaumaturgy is more complex, involving lengthy and detailed rituals as well as sophisticated, sometimes expensive, paraphernalia.
Our topics today will be:
The Principle of Similarity
Common/Powerful Components:
Silver, Linked to Ishar by some
Gold, Linked to Anashar by some
Copper, Linked to Avv by some.
Gems are used often. Linked to Traan-Vilu and Algin, and in some cases, more specific deities.
The Principle of Similarity
If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the The Principle of Similarity, the latter the Principle of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these laws, namely the Principle of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not.
Imitation involves using effigies, fetishes or poppets to affect the environment of people, or people themselves. Witches’ curse dolls are an example of fetishes used in this way: the practitioner uses a lock of hair or group of finger and toe nails, on the doll to create a link (also known as a “witchlock”) between the doll and the donor of this lock of hair. In this way, that which happens to the doll will also happen to the person.
Correspondence is based on the idea that one can influence something based on its relationship or resemblance to another thing. Many popular beliefs regarding properties of various plants, fruits and vegetables have evolved in the folk-medicine of the Westlands for example.
Many traditional societies believed that an effect on one object can cause an analogous effect on another object, without an apparent causal link between the two objects. For instance, many folktales feature a villain whose “life” exists in another object, and who can only be killed if that other object is destroyed.
Some examples from my own grimoire:
Fireflies or Glow Moss and Luminofeal
The brass key and Sesame-emases
The crystal used to read magical writing
The sample of metal consumed in detect metals
Silver powder used for the Circle of Protection, and to enchant weapons
Silver
Linked to Ishtar by some, silver has the highest arcane conductivity of any metal.
Silver has long been considered a purifying element and has been used to treat any number of illnesses, particularly contagions and wounds.
Traditionally, water that had been stored in a silver container or into which silver coins had been placed would be given to a patient or used to wash his wounds.
Silver is a great conductor of energy, including magic. Any stone set in silver will be amplified and its energy more easily directed.
Holy water used for purification purposes is best stored in or distributed from a silver container. The silver will infuse the water with its purifying energy. It will also enhance moon water.
Silver objects, such as pendulums or scrying mirrors, aid in divination and receiving messages.
Some believe that Silver harnesses the energy of Ishtar and Her Moon for spells, rituals, and lunar-based magick
Silver is the favored metal of many polytheurgists, Anasharites and Ishtari for its associations with Ishtar, the Goddess and the moon, Magic, the female principle and Winter.
Silver possesses protective powers against negative influences and evil spirits and has been used since ancient times for Amulets. The metal also is said to enhance psychic faculties. Some mages prefer to wear all silver jewelry; many who wear gold also wear at least one piece of silver at the same time.
Silver, which appears in nature in a pure state and is an excellent conductor of arcane energies, has always been valued in various societies and has long been used for magical and sacred purposes.
The ancient Sutheroni are said to have revered silver more than gold, and some claim that gold is not found in Mount Sutheron. Some say the god Anshar has bones of silver. Ancient Sutheroni used the metal to make scarabs, rings and other objects used in magical spells.
Silver has a long association with the moon. The old tribes of Suthe considered silver to be a divine quality rather than a metal substance. They associated silver with the luster of moonlight and called it the tears of the moon. In alchemy, the symbol of silver is a crescent moon; alchemists called the metal Luna or Ishtar, after the goddess of the moon. In some pre-Second Age scrolls, the moon is of written of as ‘the silver candle’ and the Great Road is called the Silver River.
Amulets made of silver can be enchanted to repel evil spirits from persons, houses and buildings. Some have written that in the folklore of parts of Aegir, couples who are going to be married encircle themselves in a silver chain in order to avoid being bewitched en route to the church.
Gold
Gold can adopt many different meanings. In economic contexts it can acquire material value, in social contexts it can gain significance for status and position within a hierarchical structure, in religious contexts it can be used to express veneration of the divine or a divinity, in magical contexts it can be perceived as a material with inherent powerful qualities. We can define the symbolic nature of gold as a means of communication. That implies, firstly, communication among humans in different situations for different purposes but also, secondly, between humans and the Warrens.
Special qualities of gold and golden objects, and their links to a numinous sphere, are quite diverse and sometimes indirect. Golden objects tend to be interpreted in arcano-archaeological research as having theurgic and thaumaturgic properties when they appear in particular find circumstances that suggest some form of ritual performances or ritual deposition. These rituals may include making the object unusable or destroying it deliberately, depositing it in inaccessible places like lakes or wetlands, or burying it in hoards that were composed of selected items in a pattern that is repeated in other hoards.
Gems
In some old writings many gems—whether precious, semi-precious, or otherwise— are described as to having potent magical abilities, either on their own or when used properly in the casting of spells or creation of magic items, potions, etc.The innate magical properties of gemstones are precise and carefully guarded, and with only a few exceptions, it is not possible to access a gem’s natural magic without the proper knowledge. Other writings discuss how gems could be worn by an individual to gain certain magical benefits, although this often seemed to require the gem to maintain contact with the wearer’s skin. Furthermore, harnessing natural gem magic was known to be imprecise, and would often yield “flawed” results—in much the same ways that gemstones themselves could be flawed.
Gem Attunement: This form of gem magic seems to have been meant to use a gemstone to affix a spell to for later use. The gem could only be activated—and the spell released—based on some trigger specified by the creator at the time of the gem’s attunement. The trigger could be that the gem was touched, that a certain amount of time had passed since its attunement, or that a certain manner of creature was present or came near the gem. An attuned gem could detect and trigger based on a creature’s type, alignment, race, or appearance, but generally could not detect the relative skillsets or strength of a creature. Regardless of the prespecified trigger, the crafter of the attuned gem could freely handle the stone or even cause the spell to release prematurely if so desired.
In theory, these gems could also be attached to other items, in which case their triggering could cause the stored spell to affect or empower that item. When affixed to doors or other large objects, the gems could serve as traps. When affixed to weapons or other pieces of equipment, the gems could provide instant enhancements to the item or protections to its wielder. A common application was to create a gem ward which provided emergency protective spells in response to a nearby enemy. Common wards were empowered with protection workings.
A practitioner of this kind of gem magic would certainly need to be well trained trained in both gemcutting and arcane spellcasting. More powerful magics would require bigger and more valuable gems, with the weakest spells needing more common gems.”
