InsaneJournal

Day 284 : Paranormal Studies : Open Class Mingle
Hi. Today, we're talking about witches and witchcraft. We have a guest co-lecturer, so I'll be going over how things work where I'm from and Piper Halliwell [nodding over to her] will talk about her world's human-created magics.


Overview : Topic

In my world there are different kinds of magic. Demons and angels have it built in, but any human can access it through the right spells and knowledge. We call the humans that draw on this magic a lot witches.

Witchcraft can be lots of different things like astrology, divination, spell casting, and talking to the spirits. There are different forms of it all over the world dating back to ancient times. Sometimes the magic is coming from a specific belief system like Voodoo or Wicca.

What makes it good or bad is how they draw their powers and what they use them for. By using spells and potions witches can do lots of different things like mind control, getting eternal youth, controlling the elements, shape-shifting and hexes.

[ WITCHCRAFT ]

For me, there are even humans that have access to it naturally. Yes, demons and other supernatural beings have the ability to exhibit natural powers, but so do certain kinds of witches. For example, I can cause things to freeze in place or blow up. [She looked a bit nervous as she said this. Teaching people to cook was one thing. It was a ‘normal’ activity. She was demonstrating, so people were looking at the food and not at her. She wasn’t talking about something that was so deeply ingrained in her to keep secret.] I don’t need a spell or a potion to do it, though I have been able to recreate natural powers using spells and potions.

That said, there are humans who don’t have natural powers. Witches with natural powers are considered “magical”, while witches who rely on spells and potions for all of their abilities and don’t have natural powers are considered “practitioners”. Practitioners use external sources of magic to cast their spells and create their potions. They have to be in a place that already has power. Magical witches have this source inside themselves already, and that is why they have the ability to tap into a natural power without the aid of a spell or a potion. Both can end up being either good or evil, depending on the intent of their magic use. Using magic for personal gain or against other creatures of good or against Innocents, humans without any powers and non-practitioners, is the path towards evil.

Good witches have the Wiccan Rede, a way of life and a vow of sorts. An harm it none, do what ye will. That phrase is what distinguishes a good witch from a bad witch. [That sounded so Wizard of Oz...] Good witches protect and defend. Evil witches seek personal gain and power.

When a witch first gains their power, there is a window of time in which they can decide. And, while the decision can be reversed later, most often, the initial decision comes from the nature of the person making it. It’s rare for a good witch to become evil and vice versa, but not impossible.

Witch powers are controlled through emotion and usually have some sort of physical component to being used. If you get angry at something, and twitch your nose at it, it suddenly bursts into flame. Or someone gets excited, and throws her hands up above her head, the chandelier suddenly shoots sparks all over the place. It’s important for a magical witch to learn what kinds of emotions and gestures trigger her powers so she can learn to control them and avoid potentially messy accidents.

[ WITCHES ]


Practical : Defense of Hexes

Hexes are one of the most common attacks a witch will use. They usually require a hex bag to be left on or near the person being targeted. It's a small bag filled with various charms, herbs, bones and other things. It allows whatever kind of spell has been set to take place. Maybe someone starts choking on their own blood or loses all their hair or gets set on fire. Whatever happens, the only way to stop it once it starts is to locate and destroy the bag.

[ HEXES ]


Case Study : Charlie

My brother and I once had a case where we were investigating a string of mysterious deaths that were happening to stage magicians. You know, the kind who pull rabbits out of their hats and do card tricks. As it turned out one of them was an actual witch who had a grimoire filled with real magic spells. He was giving himself eternal youth and trying to give one of his unsuspecting friends some success by making all of his tricks work. He'd defy something that was certain to kill him and someone else would die in his place.

[ CHARLIE ]


Case Study : Piper Halliwell

[Piper had been even more nervous about using herself as the class case study, but she didn’t feel right giving out information about someone else without them having a say, even if they weren’t here for that information to be used against them. Plus, it had been done before, like with the vampire class. It made sense to go that route again, in some weird way.

Suddenly, it was her turn, so here went nothing.]

Personally, I’m capable of everything a practitioner witch can do. That’s potion making, spell casting, and scrying. However, I’m considered a magical witch because I have a natural power in addition to the basic abilities. My power revolves around being able to change the speed of molecules.

My sisters and I describe the two basic ways of doing this as freezing and blowing it up. [It was really simplistic, but it was easier to illustrate through those terms than molecular immobilization or combustion.] I’m not going to demonstrate an explosion because we’re in a small space, but I can do this. [She took a piece of paper, held it up in front of her, and then let it drop. About half way through its fall, she flexed the fingers of her other hand and the paper stopped, hanging in mid-air.] This was my first power. I just slowed the molecules of that paper to a complete stop. To blow it up, I speed them up, which developed later and could almost be considered a second power. It’s not uncommon for a witch’s powers to grow to a point where it seems like she has several different ones, even though it’s really just one specific power used in different ways.

[ PIPER HALLIWELL ]


Questions & Discussion

[He looks at Piper again to see if there's anything else she wants to add.] Okay, so questions for either of us?

(OOC: Mingle style. Sam's comments are black. Piper's comments are in orange. Notifs are off so tag Sam and Piper during class with questions or catch him or her before or after class. Use your discretion with the links provided. They didn't necessarily cover every detail, but feel free to bring more into it. Please note Sam's canon point is toward the send of season 5, so nothing beyond that.)