'Advanced Magic Spells For Advanced Witchs or Wizards ' - Hogwarts Library

Advanced Magic Spells For Advanced Witchs or Wizards

An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial rituals or prayers. In the world of magic, incantations are said to be performed by wizards, witches, and fairies.[1] In medieval literature, folklore, fairy tales, and modern fantasy fiction, enchantments are charms or spells. This has led to the terms "enchanter" and "enchantress" for those who use enchantments.[2] The term was loaned into English around AD 1300. The corresponding native English term being "galdr" "song, spell". The weakened sense "delight" (compare the same development of "charm") is modern, first attested in 1593 (OED). Surviving written records of historical magic spells were largely obliterated in many cultures by the success of the major monotheistic religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), which label some magical activity as immoral or associated with evil.[3]

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05/31/21

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In folklore and fiction

Chapter 4

In traditional fairy tales magical formulas are sometimes attached to an object.[citation needed] When the incantation is uttered, it helps transform the object. In such stories, incantations are attached to a magic wand used by wizards, witches and fairy-godmothers. One example is the spell that Cinderella's Fairy Godmother used to turn a pumpkin into a coach, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", a nonsense rhyme which echoes more serious historical incantations.[5] In Islam it has been recorded in history in one of the authentic hadiths that such spells termed as RUQYA have been used to cure certain diseases. Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri:

Some of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad came across a tribe amongst the tribes of the Arabs, and that tribe did not entertain them. While they were in that state, the chief of that tribe was bitten by a snake (or stung by a scorpion). They said, (to the companions of Muhammad), "Have you got any medicine with you or anybody who can treat with Ruqya?" The Prophet's companions said, "You refuse to entertain us, so we will not treat (your chief) unless you pay us for it." So they agreed to pay them a flock of sheep. One of them (Muhammad's companions) started reciting Surat-al-Fatiha and gathering his saliva and spitting it (at the snake-bite). The patient got cured and his people presented the sheep to them, but they said, "We will not take it unless we ask the Prophet (whether it is lawful)." When they asked him, he smiled and said, "How do you know that Surat-al-Fatiha is a Ruqya? Take it (flock of