Spell

A wizardry constructed to produce a specific result. A spell may be diagrammed out and, when completed, read (the most common method): or it can be composed in the mind and then either spoken aloud or silently, in the mind (usually with considerably more effort required). Working a spell always requires the use of the wizardly Speech to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the formality and complexity of the spell.

Considered less concretely, every spell is a request to the Universe or some of its components to behave in a particular way. Ideally, a certain amount of persuasion is involved: best results are not achieved by ordering the Universe around. The effective wizard considers the fabric of physical existence to be a partner in any given wizardry, rather than an object or obstacle.

The equation, though, is rarely one-sided, and never without a price. Every spell transaction requires a payment of some kind, whether merely in the wizard's concentration or personal energy, or in some more complex and valuable currency. This rule embodies the basic principle expressed in the Wizard's Oath and many other places in the corpus of magical ethics: that there is a limited amount of energy available to life in the Universe, that it must not be wasted, and that interventions must be fairly paid for.

Also stemming from these necessities is the basic understanding about the structure of a spell -- that the "sides" or various portions of it must balance out in terms of energy requested and expended, the same way a chemical equation must balance out to work. Therefore the more complex the wizardry, or the wider its intended effect, the more energy must be obtained and expended to complete it. Additionally, the more resistance is expected to be brought to bear against a spell -- either in terms of the tendencies of natural forces, or of purposefully opposing forces such as the Lone Power -- the more power must be fed into the spell for it to succeed.

This topic, which lies at the heart of the Art of wizardry, is far too broad to cover in a single entry, and many other topics in the Concordance deal with one or another aspect of it. See also such associated topics as:

• Spell locus
• Spell circle

• Spells, basic organization and structure
• Spells, ingredients in
• Spells, named
• Spells, power management of
• Spells, psychotropic
• Spells, stasis

• Bindings
• Brainburn
• Enacture
• Entastics
• Geasa
• Master-words
• Power source
• Wizard's Knot

etc.

(SYWTBAW et al.)