anachronauts by stefan gagne - witchipedia

(witch hat logo)
The Fae Encyclopedia
(For Curious Humans)

Spells

Okay. THIS is the reason why I agreed to write this book in the first place -- to get my notes down on what I call "safe spellcasting practices". It's not a how-to book on how to cast spells, you aren't going to be able to start flinging around fireballs on day one. As time permits I might be able to expand this into a proper lesson... although doing so could make my friend's website elevate from "questionable content" to "illegal terrorism recipe book", so possibly not. We'll have to see how it goes.

The important thing to note about spellcasting is that there are a lot of ways to achieve a magical effect.

I'll talk about enchantments on another page. (My editor will presumably "link" that word to the page. I don't really get how this all works.) Same with glamour.

Many Fae, particularly those of the Winter Court, simply have magic in their bones and can change the shape of the world in various ways without mucking about in spells. It's like the difference between someone who owns a helicopter, has trained to fly it and knows suitable takeoff and landing places... and someone who can just hop in the air and fly anywhere they want on whim. For humans, the only option we have is the helicopter. The only safe magic we have, and I use "safe" loosely, is spells. A human who can cast spells is a witch.

Spells are simple power words which must be spoken in a way that goes against the rules of every language humanity has ever encountered. Just knowing the word isn't enough, you have to know HOW to say it, using the strange vocal patterns of the Fae. An audio recording of a spell won't be enough, either... there has to be a focus of willpower behind it, living willpower. The Word, the Way, the Will. Those are the three elements of spellcasting.

In order to write down a spell, you must not only write the Word, but you must arrange the letters in such a way as to describe the Way. This is done by relative letter positioning, angle, and various geometric forms that then tie the whole package together. Put it all within a square, the standard shape of power (you'd think it'd be a circle, and you'd be wrong) and you've got a spell. Sure, Fae spellbooks fancy it up with beautiful serif fonts and curly bits and gold ink lettering and so on... but you don't actually NEED any of that. If anything, given the amount of copying and recopying a proper witch does, you want to strip the spells down to absolute minimalism to cut down on the amount of time it takes.

Here's one I just made up. It doesn't do anything, so even if you know the Way, don't bother casting it.

(spell)

Believe it or not, that spell would be for the Word "example". The angle of the letters, the way the "m" has been flipped and the "pl" skewed, everything combined together leads you to the Way of speaking it. When you know every single conditional rule of the Way (and that could fill two books by itself!) and you apply the Will to it while reading it aloud, you cast the spell.

You'd think the Way wouldn't be important, that you could learn it phonetically. That's partially true; human tongues have a lot of trouble with Fae phonemes, though. And more importantly... it's dangerous to memorize the Word and the Way.

Some human scholars who have dared to study Fae spellbooks ask why there's only one inscribed spell on every page. Not even both sides of a page, simply one per page. The reason is because when a spell is cast, the page incinerates, the power that was locked into that spell being transferred by Will into a desired effect. Casting the spell destroys the vessel that was holding the spell previously.

Now consider what happens if, instead of reading aloud from a spellbook... you had memorized the spell. You burn out your mind. Oh, only a little, just a tiny bit. But then you cast another spell. And another. And another...

There's a good reason why witches are mistrusted. Every one I've known casts spells from memory, despite the harmful side effects, and eventually that drives them completely insane. It's like mad cow disease; it just eats away at you, causing paranoia, schizophrenia, megalomania, all sorts of mental illnesses. Even ones who seem to be stable outwardly will eventually show their true colors, and they will be dark indeed.

Human minds were not designed to be capable of casting spells from memory. Fae minds must have evolved to the point where they're durable enough to endure, or they heal back the damage rapidly. Even the "lowly" elves are capable of casting without ill effect. But until human science can figure out how they do it, I cannot recommend humans try to cast from memory.

That brings us to "safe spellcasting practices." This means, in short, "always cast from a book, always." Books are clunky, books are inconvenient. You need the book open in your hands, you need time to grasp the Way before you can read the Word. You have to keep books filled with page after page of the same spell, and you have to keep recopying them every night to ensure you don't run out, because you'll never be able to use the spell again if you lose your master copy. Above all... you have to be careful not to accidentally memorize the spell. Even having it sitting in your mind would give you the temptation to cast it without reading, and that could start the domino chain of magical addiction and brain death.

Faeries that lure humans away with promises of power, promises to teach them spellcasting, they don't give you the Surgeon General's warning. They just want tools they can use in their Court machinations, disposable spellcasters to be propped up and knocked down. I'm bringing you the truth because if there is to be a safe and responsible culture of human mages, it needs to know the facts. Magic is dangerous. Books are weak, books are sloppy, but books are the only way to go.

In a side note, don't tattoo spells to your skin. It works, but you don't want to know what it feels like when the spell burns out the surface it's printed on.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm not a spellcaster. Not many elves are. My second cousin is, and she's never gone crazy from it, so I didn't think there was anything dangerous about magic until I read Emily's writing.

I'm all for humans learning our culture, and I think it'd be totally awesome to have more human spellcasters. Witches are hotties. But she's right. You've got to be careful. The few witches I've seen, deep in Summer Court sponsorship-nee-ownership, they're scary people indeed. I'd rather there be more Emilys and less whackos in this world.