Herbs and verbs, non fictional magice
This is a book about the medieval magice and not just the fictional kind. (Will create a huge advantage at Charms, history of magic, astrology, and herbology lessons)
Last Updated
06/05/22
Chapters
4
Reads
761
Introduction
Chapter 1
Magic is first and foremost a technology, a primeval tool that humans stumbled upon eons ago for accessing an invisible realm that they sensed held the key to their well-being. Magic gave people an avenue to attain what their hearts desired—protection, divination, healing, luck, vengeance and, most of all, a sense of empowerment. It’s a measure of comfort in a cold, dark world.
Although the world’s magical practices are diverse, appearing at first to be a kaleidoscopic array of random symbols and incoherent mutterings, if we dig a little deeper, we find common constitutive elements. Try to discern which of the following is not an incantation:
A. Abracadabra
B. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.
C. As the moon wanes, so may I decrease…
D. Nasagwagusa, isawagusa
inai gogona
inai gogona
narada nabwibwi…
B is nothing special, just an old-timey physician’s prescription for minor complaints. It accomplishes nothing, save for foisting responsibility back onto the patient. In contrast, A, C, and D are special purpose magical language, used to make things happen in the world.