Fandom High Dormitories

There were two tables at the front of the meeting today. The first held the requisite snacks and drinks that people expected from their meetings, but the second was covered in skeins of silk, hollow wooden frames, a few small baskets of dried plants, some salt, candles, incense, and a few books.

"Kiss kiss and thanks for coming," Karla greeted when it looked like everyone had assembled. "In the past, we've talked about the different kinds of magic there are. My Craft differs from Tara's magic which differs from Raven's powers. But even a single witch or magic user may need many tools to cast the spells they know. Some spells can be accomplished with a thought or by will alone, others may need somatic and verbal components to be spoken aloud or specific hand gestures. And others still need materials. Again, because there are so many different kinds of magic, what materials are needed for a spell or ritual will vary from person to person and spell to spell--" she gestured to the second table "--but oftentimes, there is a bit of overlap."

"At home," Tara added, "you need ingredients for just about any spell, unless you, um, kind of go overboard with power. But that'll just drain you. And besides" -- she shrugged -- "most burning herbs smell kind of pretty. Helps you focus while you're chanting."

"Incense and candles also are sometimes a helpful aid for meditation," Raven said, "which can aid in focusing your powers, as can something like my chakra." She touched her fingertips to the red jewel on her forehead, then continued. "My healing gifts do not require any sort of spell components, but other spells I know do need some sort of object to focus them on, an item for the magics to be contained within." She swept her hair back so that the glow of her earrings could be seen. "These were originally simple gold earrings, but I have attached a spell of light to them. For the spell to be most effective, they had to be of pure gold and finely crafted. The better the quality of the item, the more powerful the spell."

"It's important to learn and understand some basic spell components," Karla continued. "On the one hand, if we're under attack and need to cast a spell, knowing what items are at hand will give you a better idea of what spells can be cast. Knowing the difference between rosemary and rue might be vital, especially if the magic user casting the spell can't be with you when you're collecting the materials for the spell. And, should you ever be in a position to observe an enemy spellcaster, it's good to know a little bit about what they're doing, too. Will knocking the candle over interrupt the spell or just alert the caster to your presence? If you scuff the summoning circle, will you send the evil demon back to its hell dimension or just let it loose on Fandom?"

These were some pretty important questions, okay? No one wanted to deal with ravening demons on the loose.

"So today, we're going to spend some time talking about some of the material components to our spells. Then, we're going to talk about where to find those components and the best ways to interfere with spells that rely on them."

"They kept telling me I'm not allowed to say that you'd find the stuff I use to make magic at 'Dite's," Emmett added with a grin. "So this is me not saying that, and just shutting up and listening this week."

[Co-written with the amazing life_inshadow, trigons_child and hazlehurstmiss. Please wait for the OCD is up and has been for awhile. *facepalms* Many thanks to ancientbschamp for pointing that out to me.]