text; un: e.västerström

[incinerating]

Name: Emil Västerström
Date: 03/17
Format: text

Hi everyone. I'm looking for some information or whatever. I guess it's mostly directed at witches, but I know some monsters were mages back home too and I'm not going to turn away any input.

Anyway, how do you do magic? Like, using runes or chanting spells or waving your hands around or anything else. The focus or whatever, the thing you do to make the magic happen. What is it? And how did you pick it?

I've tried about a billion different things and nothing is clicking, I need some ideas.

Comments

[fiddlestick]

I use music personally. Remembering an incantation is tricky, but putting things to a melody helps a lot.

For bigger spells, I have a staff from home that I use. It helps me focus.

[incinerating]

That reminds me of how my friend from home did it. He used these chants. I think they were calling on gods or something, I never really got the full picture, which is why I'm having a hard time with this, I think.

SO do you make up the songs yourself?

[fiddlestick]

Yeah. It does help to have a good understanding of where the energy is coming from. Here, usually the energy is coming from your own, or any items you might be using. Haven't had to call on any gods yet.

Yeah, unless someone's already made one up for what I want to cast.

[oathkeeper]

i'm not a witch but back home casting magic was sort of like sneezing? you just inhale and let it out and it comes out in a big burst? it's supposed to be natural like that, i think?

[incinerating]

I thought it was supposed to feel natural too. That's how it always came across with the mages back home, but it doesn't feel natural at all. Maybe it's because I had nothing to do with magic back home.

When it came out, did you use words or anything?

[oathkeeper]

you didn't have magic back home yourself? maybe that's why it's a little trickier for you?

when i used magic i didn't really need to use words, though. i sort of just pulled the magic out of the air, i guess. it was like snapping my fingers or waving a hand. it just... happened

i wish i could help more. hmm i've seen witches use magic by singing or with words and with just touching someone before

[poisontippedcure]

Back home, I would channel it through a cane. It felt like I was speaking directly to the spirits, and calling for their aid.

Here? I couldn’t tell you.

[incinerating]

I haven't tried using an object yet. I guess I felt a little silly waving a magic wand around. My friend, I think, does magic by calling on the gods, but I'm still not sure I believe in gods and even if I did, they wouldn't be here. It's a whole different world.

Are you a witch here?

[poisontippedcure]

No. Unfortunately, I'm fae.

And heavens, you don't have to actually wave the wand. Often, magic needs to be channeled into something to give it physical form. The stick exists as a medium between you and whatever you're channeling.

[betweenduskanddawn]

I've had a lot of luck with just reciting the words at first.
But after a while it seems like it matters less what I say and more what I intend?

If that makes sense.

[incinerating]

Oh, yeah I think that makes sense. So you could sort of be saying nonsense but it works because you mean it to?

[betweenduskanddawn]

Yes.

Although I do think it was important to learn it with the right words first.

[thisisamazing]

my partner uses a wand sometimes, but i've found it's easier for me to imbue spells into objects with runes. i think having something physical helps me... i don't know, picture and direct the magic? i do better when i can hold something. or hand gestures, actually, for spells that don't work well as enchantments. i use hand signals with my dragon a lot, so it's the next easiest thing for me, i guess.

we don't have magic in my home world at all, so it's been an adjustment.

[incinerating]

Oh! Runes. A guy I know from home uses runes and apparently that's how people from my area of the world are supposed to do it. He would write them on pieces of paper or the door of the tank or on the ground or boat or whatever with paint. I tried a couple times, but I don't know what they're supposed to look like and the ones I could find in books here are weird and look nothing like the ones from home.

Hand signals make sense too, though. Sort of thinking about the magic like a thing you direct, or whatever?

We had magic at home for me, but I never believed in it until a few months ago. You can only be a skeptic so long when magic is being done right in front of your own eyes. It's still a relatively new concept for me though.

[And then, in a separate text a few seconds later, as if it's just registered.]

With your dragon? Do you mean you're bonded to a dragon and you communicate with sign language?

[thisisamazing]

i started trying to learn the runes here, and i still use them, but i also mix in my own people's language. once you start with the foundation sometimes it gets easier because you can move away from doing everything by the book. it just takes a while to get used to.

ah that makes sense. it must have been pretty weird. i know realizing magic existed somewhere was kind of weird for me? and then realizing that i suddenly had it. but... honestly, i really like it.

huh? no, my bonded is another witch. he's my dragon from home. my best friend. he's not like the dragons here, he's not... he doesn't talk.

un: leslie

[foundfamilies]

I don't know if I am a good person to emulate. It took me almost a full month before I had any success and I don't know if I am doing it the way we're supposed to be.
And I have been spending a lot of my time at the Coven this month on gardening classes.
And I do not use a focus, because I am not used to doing magic like that.

But I started by learning how my magic feels inside of me. I had to sit somewhere quiet, close my eyes, and try to feel what was different from how I felt when I was on my own world. Since the only change for witches in coming here is the new magic, whatever is different should be that magic.

At least, I think it would have to be.

[incinerating]

It's been more than a month for me and I'm still pretty inconsistent. Which is hard to believe, usually I'm awesome at school and stuff.

So instead of a focus you sorta like, commune with your magic or whatever and then it listens to you? That's different. Usually there's like, gestures or something. It's cool though.

un: voidgear

[darkcharge]

Magic can be channeled through your body. I prefer to use my hands or my weapon as a focus.

Incantations are helpful, but only through practice and understanding of the spell you're working on can you reduce it to something shorter.

[incinerating]

I've kind of tried waving my hands when I was doing it but I felt a bit stupid, so I guess I didn't really put my heart into it. How do you get past that? Or do you just not feel stupid?

I haven't really tried actual incantations. Again with the feeling kinda stupid. But maybe I'll give it a try. It's better than not being able to do magic, I guess.

un: dagwood

[blankpieces]

No practicing in the shop.

[incinerating]

I wasn't planning to. Are you kidding me? Stuffed animals are really flammable!

[quintessent]

At home, magic was just something tied to your energy, if I focused on it, I could project it and channel it into people and objects.

That's what I do here too.

[There's a long pause.]

To mixed results. I've never thought about a focus before.

[incinerating]

Oh, wow, you did magic at home too? That's really cool. It's nice that it works here too, the same way. How do you channel it? Do you like wave your hands or yell something or say a chant or whatever? My friend back home did magic by saying poetry to his gods, and another guy did it with runes. I have no idea where to start.

text; un: wvelvet

[tryhard]

It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. There's no such thing as just 'doing magic' and expecting it to happen like in a fairy tale.

First, you must understand the disparate components of a spell or enchantment, the same as you'd need to understand the components of a potion and how they interact together.

You've asked half a dozen questions here with no context. What exactly are you trying to achieve?

[incinerating]

I don't believe in fairy tales. I'm honestly just trying to copy what I saw mages at home do, but I don't know the steps or how it feels or anything because I didn't even believe in magic until recently.

I don't know really, what I'm trying to achieve. I want to make fire with magic, but I'm not sure how to get the magic out of me and turn it into fire.