Majical Arts

Fair day, all.

I am the Sorceress Suzaunna and 'tis a pleasure to be with you, again. At Dream Teller's request I will speak to the many requests you have e-mailed with regards to the Majical Arts and practicioners of those, of which there are many. What one must first understand is that there is class distinction with regards to Majical Arts. Certain types are considered 'High Ritual' or 'Ceremonial' Majic while other types are deemed 'Low Majic'. There is nothing difficult to understanding those, for they speak for themselves.

Apparently there are many of you, Outsiders, who are under the impression that being a true Witch naturally endows one with all the powers and abilities of our Kind. 'Tis mistaken you are in that belief. Never in our history has there been a single Witch possessed of 'all' power. Certainly there has been and there are, today, some extremely gifted individuals with much higher degrees of power than others of our Kind. But even they are no' 'all' powerful. 'Tis no' the way of it and thankfully so.

If you pause to think about that surely you will see the good in that impossibility. For there to be so powerful an individual Witch would be to upset the balance between good and evil. Aye, there are both types of Witches among us, as there are both types of Outsiders among your Kind. Individual Witches have specialized gifts that lend themselves to certain areas of expertise. That is no' to say that one can no' have other preferences and practice those Arts with finesse; merely, that each of us is gifted so that we are more adept in particular Arts.

At this point, I see no reason to bore you with ancient history or historical figures to prove any points of interest, for your library carries many such accountings (although many are skewed) if you wish to delve into our history. What is most important here, is the present and the future. And those are what we will concentrate upon, for now.

There are many and varied Majical Arts. Some of the ancient Arts are more or less set in stone and require specific knowledge for the exactness of preparation and deed. But others have evolved, as Practicioners have fine tuned the preparations, so to speak. As with any Kind, some Witches have embraced modern times and incorporated the present into their Rituals and Ceremonies. As I am a young Sorceress, I keep the old and embrace the new, thus I consider myself to hold the best of both worlds. 'Tis how ways evolve; in the combining and refining.

My Maman, the Sorceress JoHaunna, and my Steppapa, the Warlock Gregory are, to my way of thinking, the finest examples of what a true Witch is. More, they are finer examples of Warlock and Sorceress. They have done what was once considered impossible; a Warlock and a Sorceress able to coexist and more, cohabit as equal partners. Mayhap it came easier for them as each parented off-spring who were all destined to be Warlocks and Sorceress. That too is rare, for so many of such power to be born to one family ( Maman birthed five sons, all of whom are Warlock and myself, and Gregory begot two sons, both of whom are Warlock) and all of us coexist peacefully and are extremely close as a family could possibly be. So, you see that things can and do change with the times.

I and my brothers enjoyed the learning to hone our special abilities from Maman, and now Papa is our mentor as well. Each of our parents are powerful in their own right (Gregory is a Master of his Kind and Maman is his female equal). Dream Teller has often spoken here of their prowess and few are their equals. 'Tis from them that we learned that evil begets evil and thus ne'er to use our abilities for naught but what is right and good. That is no' to say that we are no', at times, forced to walk the fine line between good and evil in order to achieve a right and just purpose. 'Tis that which must be done with care, for many a good Witch has fallen prey to the darkness of the Black Arts.

Of the many, Alchemy; Charming; Commanding and Compelling; Divination; Healing;Necromancy; Spell-casting; and Spirit-summoning are the major Majical Arts. Within each of those are many avenues of practice and each Witch practices differently though all hold to the basic principles of the Arts. The Arts have long been considered malevolent means to evil ends by Outsiders; particularly, by religious leaders of other faiths. And so they can be but 'tis no' so with all Witches, for the many of us use them for good. The mere fact that we are possessed of such gifts tends to instill fear in those who are no' gifted in that manner; has done since the beginning of time. But of late (the last twenty-five years, or thereabouts), Outsiders are beginning to accept that we are merely different, rather than all being evil-doers.

'Tis still we find ourselves in difficult situations, and still we must take care to whom we reveal our true selves, for there will always be those who will no' accept us and seek to destroy our Kind. I will stop at this juncture and return in the near future to discuss the principles of each of the above named Arts. I bid you, fare well.