Magic

Magic is a form of energy. It can be used by magical beings, wizards, and under certain conditions or with help even by non-magical mortals.

Description
Magic in its simplest form is the energy produced by life. Practitioners are able to use this energy to modify reality. One of the main atributes about magic is that its rules are always slightly changing and an example of this is how it currently effects technology.

Steps
Certain things need to happen for any spell. Another way to say it is: load the gun, aim, pull the trigger. Handling them all at once for a big spell can be very difficult, which three people are usually needed for big projects.
 * 1) Gather the energy.
 * 2) Shape the energy with thoughts and feelings for goal.
 * 3) Release it in the direction intended.

Belief
A Wizard or Sorcerer using magic can tap into the fundamental energies of creation and life itself. To do something with magic, it must come from inside a wizard. They have to focus, visualize it and beleive in it to make it work. They can't make it happen if it isn't part of them, inside. "You can't weave together a spell that you don't believe in." ~ Harry Dresden. To make magic work, you have got to believe in it, want it. Or else it just fizzles.

Life's Essence
According to Harry, Magic is tool made from life's essence, its energy. It is is more that just an energy source. Besides power, was all that was deepest and most powerful in nature, in the human heart and soul. There's more magic in a baby's first giggle than a fire that a wizard can call up. It comes from inside the wizard a part of him/her.

Technology
Magic interferes with technology and causes it to randomly break down; the more magic in the area, the greater the chance of something wrong happening. This does not effect minor practitioners as much as full wizards because of the different energy levels they control.

Emotions

 * Emotions are a kind of channel for magic, a path to carry the magic to the magic user.


 * Magic come from the heart, from your feelings. Black magic comes from lust, fear and anger—things that are easy to feed and make grow. Harry's magic was harder because it comes from a deeper truer and purer source—harder to tap, harder to keep but more elegant and more powerful.

Props
Magic doesn't require props to function. Magic may not need props but people need them. Each prop has both a symbolic and practical reason for being part of a spell. Simple activities like lighting candles can be done in the mind. However, complicated spells have too many parts to keep track of: flows of energy, manipulating them and so on. Using props serve as a device to hold the meaning, the image that the user attaches to it.

Anchoring
To make spells long-lasting, they need to be anchored.
 * OBJECTS: Magic can be anchored to specific objects, usually expensive objects but not always, like Harry's blasting rod.
 * PERSON: There are times when magic can be anchored to a person. It must be a blood relation. Example: Margaret LeFay, Harry's mom, could have anchored her Death curse to Harry so that as long as he was alive, the spell was still viable.

Tubulance Theory
Ebenezar McCoy believes that the reason the magic of human wizards disrupts modern mechanics and technology—though the magic of Faeries does not—is that human beings are inherently conflicted. Magic responds to emotions and thoughts, and people's thoughts and emotions are always conficting. This means that there is a turbulance around those with magical talent and its the turbulance, not the magic itself, that disrupts technology.

Other Details

 * Left side is the side that takes in energy.
 * The right side projects energy.
 * The proper hand to carry a staff in is the left hand.
 * Magic is time-consuming with Circles, gathering energies, and aligning forces.

The Seven Laws of Magic

 * 1) Thou shalt not kill by use of magic.
 * 2) Thou shalt not transform others.
 * 3) Thou shalt not invade the mind of another.
 * 4) Thou shalt not enthrall another.
 * 5) Thou shalt not reach beyond the borders of life.
 * 6) Thou shalt not swim against the currents of Time.
 * 7) Thou shalt not seek knowledge beyond the Outer Gates.

Practitioners
Practitioner is a generic term for an individual who can use magic. The word signifies only the presence of magical talent; it has no connotations regarding the individual's power or skill. There are a number of other terms, however, which do have such connotations.

A Wizard is a practitioner who is a member of the White Council. The Council only grants membership to the strongest of practioners; in terms of raw magical strength, Council wizards rank in the top two percent. And yet, the power of even the strongest wizards is insignificant in comparison to a supernatural heavyweight like a Faerie Queen.

A Sorcerer is a practitioner with a wide spectrum of magical abilities and a good deal of power, who either does not meet the criteria for Council membership, or does but is not a member. Many of those in the latter category have the necessary power and talent to be a wizard, but are often self-taught, lacking the resources and knowledge base of the White Council. The term is sometimes used in a derisive manner by White Council members.

A minor talent is a practitioner with a small degree of magical aptitude.

A warlock is a practitioner who has violated one of the laws of magic.

Wizards have two unusual physical characteristics. The first is great longevity: the lifespan of a White Council wizard is measured in centuries. The second is an extraordinary ability to recover from injury. Wizards don't heal faster than ordinary people, but they heal better. A practitioner's body can recover from injuries that an ordinary mortal's body never could. Furthermore, the recovery is eventually so complete that there sometimes is no evidence that the injury ever occured.

Variation of Abilities
In much the same way that people have varying talents for art, science, or music, practitioners have varying aptitudes for different aspects of magic. What is easy for one may be difficult for another. Harry Dresden, for instance, is very adept at Thaumaturgy (particularly at finding things), but less so at Evocation. His apprentice Molly Carpenter, on the other hand, has a knack for veils and psychomancy.

Tools of Magic

 * Circle of Power: create boundaries that isolate an area inside from the magical energies of the world outside. It helps a Wizard refine his magic, focus and direct it more clearly. It can be used for defense (either from the outside, or from something trapped inside it).
 * Name: by associating himself with a Name of a spirit, creature or person a Wizard can create a magical link like you can call up someone on the phone with a number. But it must be spoke with the right tone and pronouciation. Works just like Hair, Nail-Clippings or Blood.
 * Emotions:  are a kind of channel for magic, a path to carry the magic to the magic user.
 * Hair, Nail-Clippings, Blood: something to connect the spell-caster to the target person or entitiy.
 * Mirrors: many things can use mirrors as windows and doors. Harry doesn't keep any mirros in his home.
 * Pentacle
 * Pentagram
 * Focus (magic) is any tool used to focus a spellcaster's energy and insulate the caster's own body from the effects of the spell. It makes specific spells more precise, easier to cast, and more powerful.
 * Homunculus: an body-like object such as a doll or corpse that a sprit who can not manifest their own can inhabit when summoned. Harry used a Cabbage Patch doll for Ulsharavas.
 * Cats: are Magic-friendly, they can move back and forth across magic boundaries, like circles, without disturbing them. Cats can also see ghosts and spirits.

Using Blood

 * Blood has  akind of power. A magic user can use blood to track the person who spilled it.
 * Once blood dries, it's harder to use.
 * Using blood is tricky, the user has to keep it from drying out and keep it undiluted.
 * The amount of blood needed depends on: the efficiency and skill level of the magic user—and—how much energy is required: the more energy being sent, the more blood is needed. If for a simple tracking spell, not much is needed, if for making a targets heart explode, a lot is needed.

Types of Magic
There are two broad types of magic in The Dresden Files: thaumaturgy and evocation.


 * Thaumaturgy operates by creating magical links between objects. It operates over greater distances and with more precision, but is more time consuming and requires a conduit to the target-- usually a physical sample.


 * Evocation is loud, flashy, and often destructive. It works on its target directly without the need for a link, and can be performed quickly, but has limited range an is generally more difficult to wield with precision.

There are a number of terms for more specialized forms of magic.


 * Divination is magic which is employed to gain information, especially information about the future.
 * Summoning magic brings a spiritual being from the Nevernever to the mortal world.
 * Binding magic is used to enthrall (enslave) a summoned being.
 * Charm is a kind of short-term magic.

Fire Magic
Fire Magic Series Notes :
 * Fire Magic is what Harry uses most often: fuego, and variations or combinations.

Earth Magic
Earth Magic Series Notes :
 * In the short story IT’S MY BIRTHDAY, TOO Harry uses the spell "Gravitus" to concetrate, for just a fraction of second, the gravity of a fifty yards circle into a eighteen inches circle, smashing a Black Court Vampire. Harry explains that he is not good with earth-magic and so he needed twenty seconds to cast the spell.
 * Ebenezar insisted that Harry learn at least one spell of Earth Magic.
 * Harry opened a hole in Lea's garden in the Nevenever to burry Bob, the Swords and other paraphenalia using Dispertius to open the hole and Resarcius to close it.
 * Harry used an anti-gravity spell to smash and kill hundreds of Red Court soldiers—specifically Esclavos de Sangre: "Blood Slaves".

Air / Wind Magic
Harry uses Wind Magic second after Fire Magic with: "Ventas Servitas"

Air Magic Series Notes :
 * Harry swore by it and fire to Bianca St. Claire that he had no intent to harm her to stop her attacking him.
 * Harry called up wind to blow on Kyle and Kelly Hamilton.

Water Magic
Water Magic Series Notes :
 * Water, especially running water, grounds out most magic.

Kinetic Energy
Kinetic Energy Series Notes :

Curses
Curses are spells intended to do harm.

About / Details

 * Curses need some means of directing the magic at a target. Body parts like hair, nail-clippings, fresh blood worked best.
 * Really stong curses require three people to cast the spell: one to gather the energy, one to shape it, one to aim it.
 * To make a curse long-lasting, it needs to be anchored to an object or a blood relation.

Types

 * Malocchio
 * Entropy curse
 * Death curse

In the Series Notes
In Storm Front, Harry is angry and nauseated that someone would use a thing of beauty like magic and use it to hurt, kill and destroy when magic taps into the energies of creation.

In Blood Rites: Harry was hired by Arturo Genosa to stop Strega from killing with a Malocchio—an Entropy curse. Murphy asked Harry why he can't do the sunshine magic thing like he did on Bianca St. Claire a few years back. Harry said that he tried it again after The War and found out that he needed to be genuinely happy to be able to fold sunshine into a hankie or it does not work.

In Turn Coat, Anastasia Luccio told Harry how his mother, Margaret LeFay, loved pointing out the ares of "grey" magic, as she called it and questioned their legitimacy. As a consequence, the Senior Council tasked the Wardens with keeping an eye on her.

In Changes, Harry perfomed magic in his mind without the use of any props while immobilized after having broken his back and being desperate to rescue his daughter. He first summoned Uriel who cannot help him. Harry then summoned Mab.

In Ghost Story, Harry tries to figure out how to use magic being a ghost. He had to access the energy, empower the spell with memories. "Working magic as a ghost was all about doing it au natural." With a tracking spell to find Molly, at first he kept finding himself at some place they were at long ago. When he used a current memory and filled it with details, it worked.

Word of Jim
According to Jim Butcher, "Magic wasn’t always screwing up post WW2 tech. Before WW2 magic had other effects. It sorta changes slowly over time, and about every 3 centuries it rolls over into something else. At one time, instead of magic making machines flip out it made cream go bad. Before that magic made weird moles on your skin and fire would burn slightly different colors when you were around it."