A spell is an act of magic: a sequence of thoughts, words, and actions by which a practitioner channels magical energy to produce a change in the world.
Description[]
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Curses[]
Curses, such as malocchio, entropy curse, and the death curse are spells intended to do harm. They need some means of directing the magic at a target; body parts like hair, nail-clippings, fresh blood work best.[1] To make a curse long-lasting, it needs to be anchored to an object or a blood relation.[2]
Really strong curses require three people to cast the spell: one to gather the energy, one to shape it, one to aim it.[2]
Props and tools[]
Though spells are mental constructs, most magical practitioners use various physical objects in casting them; many spells can be extremely complex and difficult to cast properly. The use of props reduces the required mental effort.[3]
A long-duration spell needs to be anchored to either objects, such as Harry Dresden's blasting rod,[2] or people, in which case they need to be blood relatives to either the caster or the target. The Bloodline curse is such a case.[4]
Circles of power are one of the basic tools of magic. An empowered circle creates a barrier that magical forces and beings of the Nevernever cannot cross, preventing magical interference from the outside. Circles can also be used to contain supernatural beings or keep them out.[5][6] Setting up circles, gathering energy, and aligning forces can be time-consuming.[7]
Names anchor thaumaturgical links to the being bearing them. Correct pronunciation is essential, and it is necessary that the name is given from the Name's bearer.[5] Thaumaturgical links can also be created by enchanting a piece of the target; for human beings, hair strands, nail clippings, or fresh blood are excellent choices and can be used to aim a thaumaturgic spell at the person they were taken from.[8][9]
Mirrors can be used as gateways by many things, such as Fetches, which is the reason Dresden doesn't keep any in his home.[10]
Foci are magically prepared objects used to direct and execute spells. Common examples are staves, blasting rods, Pentagrams[11] and pentacles.[11]
Homunculi[Footnote 1] are objects used to temporarily host a spirit incapable of manifesting a physical form of its own. Some practitioners use fresh corpses,[12] Dresden uses a Cabbage Patch doll[Footnote 2] as a vessel for Ulsharavas.[12]
Cats are magic-friendly, and can move back and forth across magic boundaries, like circles without disturbing them.[13] Cats can also see ghosts and spirits.[14]
Blood has a kind of power; a practitioner can use blood to track the person who spilled it.[15] Once it dries, or is excessively diluted, it's harder, if not impossible, to use.[15][16] Different amounts of blood are needed according to the efficiency and skill of the magic user and how much energy the spell requires.[16]
In the series[]
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See also[]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ Blood Rites, ch. 9
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Blood Rites, ch. 27
- ↑ Changes, ch. 29
- ↑ Changes, ch. 21
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Storm Front, ch. 6
- ↑ Turn Coat, ch. 19
- ↑ Summer Knight, ch. 19
- ↑ "Last Call"
- ↑ The Warrior
- ↑ Storm Front, ch. 11
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Small Favor, ch. 04
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Death Masks, ch. 8
- ↑ Cold Days, ch. 47
- ↑ Ghost Story, ch. 10
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Fool Moon, ch. 4
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Cold Days, ch. 27