Marco replies >> I'd be happy to meet her, God helps those who help themselves.
Marco's morning was mainly spent on administrative, a visit to the construction site where at least for the meanwhile he was off the hook. Some magical equipment shopping at Lady's shop. It was odd to actually come there as she usually brought him everything he needed. She of course did not work t here alone, if she actually had time to actually work with the amount of business she seemed to be juggling in her life.
A visit at the hospital to help Yelena settle in his apartment and then at evening Marco went to visit Jed, notifying Yelena that he'll spend the night and they can have all morning to themselves.
Starting...
Marco arrived at the address Jed had given him. Seriously? This is the industrial district…” Marco looked at the rows of steel entry doors in front of him. Glancing over his shoulder he could see rows of overhead doors on the other building. Apparently, these office warehouses had office in the front, garage in the back.
As Marco knocked on the door he understood that Jed’s home is a lot more modest of his own. It made him feel bad for keeping Jed accountable for the bar table - “that table - costs like few months in this joint. How non christian of me to be angry about it.
In Marco’s mind Mages were rich people as they had a profession that was high in demand.
“Hi Jed, thank you very much for having me...” He said as he entered the small apartment. Either Jed was undercover, or he managed to remain poor despite having access to actual magic.
“Hi Marco, please come in. My lodge is in the back. Jed led Marco through the front office, with its old desk and single bookshelf with (actual) books. Passing through the “conference room” that served as a bedroom, Jed said “If you need the restroom, it’s through that door over there”. He led Marco through the next door into the garage. Half of the garage was mostly empty, save for an old beat up motorcycle, and some stacked boxes and a cot. The other half was curtained off by plastic sheeting. Jed led Marco through the curtain into his lodge. Shelves of odd and end knick knacks lined some shelves. A few books lay piled on a small table. Sidewalk chalk lay on the floor preparing for his binding of a spirit. “It will be crowded. Some of what we are planning has to be done in a lodge, and you end up sleeping in here. Tonight, I am going to bind a spirit. It takes about 6 hours, so we’ll eat an early dinner and get started. Once a ritual, a binding or something starts, you can’t leave the lodge. That bucket over there is a camping toilet. It’s filled with disinfectant. Unfortunately the lodge doesn’t encompass the bathroom, so when I’m in the middle of something, and nature calls, well, there you go.” He looks at Marco. “Snowden is with the mage I told you about. He’s been teaching her what he know about plants. So we have the place to ourselves tonight.”
Marco entered the garage and took a look around. He looked at the motorcycle and said “I take it you do not travel the same way that I do, it does not look so wiz tough... are you using that?” Glancing at the motorcycle Jed shook his head No, I just picked that up. I’ve asked Arc if she can get it running. I need to get it towed over to her place so she can check it out.
Behind the plastic curtain was an actual magical lodge. Marco would not have thought so, it looked nothing like his own magical lodge. Many small trinkets, some arcane drawings on the floor, Marco thought “I got to find a cleaner way to bind... If I start doing that to my floor I’ll never get all the chalk out of the carpet”. He looked around in astonishment and said “I cannot believe it is a magical lodge, you seem to have so many objects in here. My lodge was a Christian one, but it stopped working for me when I stopped following my mentor. What kind of tradition do you practice? ”
Jed considered how to reply to that. “Most other mages describe those of my tradition as Chaos mages, but I don’t think that is an accurate description. It conjures visions of crazy wizards casting uncontrollable spells to random effect. Mages of my tradition learn and cast magic by feel. We believe that mana is a medium and we create things from that medium. We don’t try to pigeon hole everything about magic like a hermetic mage because there is always something that doesn’t fit those rigid rules they set. We also don’t consider nature in every aspect of mana and how we use it like a shaman does. Mana flows in and through nature, but it is independant of it. It exists without nature, and nature existed during magic’s ebb. The reason we probably get called Chaos mages is that we are so eclectic. We take knowledge from wherever we find it useful. We take little things from other traditions that we like. It would be like eating a meal that has enchiladas as a main dish, with a side of pasta olio, some lamb curry, a little shrimp fried rice, with halva for dessert. As you can see, I like to draw chalk circles for binding. A hermetic mage has to have a summoning circle to bind. I use it because it helps me focus correctly, but not all mages of my tradition use summoning circles. So I guess you’d say I find magic to be experiential rather than cerebral like a hermetic.” Taking a deep breath, Jed starts to explain tonight’s summoning and binding procedure. ”My belief regarding spirits is that we are offering up mana for them, maybe like a job posting. Some of us believe that the mana we use to summon them actually is absorbed by them, which is why they respond to our summons. Once they accept, they are bound to a certain number of services as negotiated at the time of summoning. When we bind them, we are offering reagents as a form of payment for an extended time period. Once they agree they are bound. Some tasks they find distasteful, others they find downright offensive. I personally think they are attracted to magicians of similar auras as theirs. Vicious mages tend to attract vicious spirits. But if you are constantly using your spirits to harm innocents, or to fight until the spirit is disrupted, or things like that, you start having less spirits that are willing to let themselves be bound to you, and those that are willing tend to be aligned with those goals. One last thing. Some mages think that spirits are just constructs of mana or a piece of the mage made manifest. This is not correct. I have spent enough time with spirits over the last 20 years to know that they are individuals. When I pulled away from people, and hid myself from the world for two decades, spirits were the only beings I talked to for weeks on end sometimes. I’ve learned some of what I know from them. I find Spirits of Man to be the easiest to work with. They seem less alien to me. Spirits of fire are so primal and emotion driven. Spirits of earth are so silent, not very talkative. Spirits of air are curious, but jump from topic to topic, like an ADD kid. Spirits of water are mysterious and hard to pin down. They tend to answer questions with questions. The one thing about Spirits of Man is that the answer you get isn’t always what you think. Sometimes you have to look for the words behind the words. Anyway, I will be summoning a spirit of Man, and I want one who casts heal and a spell that increases my awareness. Then I will summon the second one, who will be able to heal and use psychokinesis.
Marco listened to the details about the ritual. To his view on life, rituals were important as one can never be sure what parts are real and what are theatrics. “Perhaps the ritual is used to bring your mind to a specific emotion...” he thought. He said “It is debated if Chaos is even a tradition as there seem to be nothing traditional in it. Experimental magic - like you put it. You do not need to worry about negative stigma. I read the grimoire and I come from Italy where people dream about being awakened.”
Marco then said “Christians believe that magic is not about knowledge, it is about being a vessel of divine will. To be a good vessel you need to work on your morality, you need to learn modesty and practice charity, you need to sacrifice for other people. The ability to study is a blessing and the skills you acquire are actually gifts you were given. Without the blessing, study is impossible and this is why mundanes cannot study magical arts even with an exceptional mind. Even awakened are limited in the type of magical skills they are allowed to learn, most mages can only learn a single magical school. Full mages are also limited as they only manipulate external sources of mana.
As for me? This approach does not work and while I am deeply influenced with Christian theurgy I do not actually practice it. To me magic is about emotions, and each magical activity has an emotion behind it. Shapechange is fed by curiosity and passion spells are fed by passion - it gets very confusing with Qi. The very manner that I control my emotions and my own words are magical. I seem to be able to project some of my emotions at other people simply by talking.
If I try to translate the ritual you taught me to the way I perceive mana - and remember that I cannot actually sense this energy. I need to understand the significance of these spirits for you. Why do you bind them and how would they make you feel?”
Jed listened intently to Marco’s description of Christian Theurgy and how Marco understood it. So you are saying that if a Christian Theurgist doesn’t behave according to the tenets of the church, magic won’t work right for them? That is an interesting thought. It’s kind of like a geas. I guess that is smart on their part. If you are going to teach people to do magic in the name of a deity, teach them a way that won’t work if they aren’t acting in accordance with that deities principles. I would imagine that it is very dependant upon whether or not they believe they are acting in accordance with principles.
Marco replied ”It is very difficult to advance in Christian theurgy if you do not behave as you are expected to behave. When I read Christian texts they seem to be judging me every step of the way. Making me feel alien to that tradition and locking the actual lore away from me. So the simple answer is yes, if you do not follow the ethics it is very difficult to study that tradition. The more complex answer is that there is more than one way to spin a cat and you do not have to learn from Christian books. “
I’ve never really related the magic I’m creating with how I feel, so I’m not sure how to answer that. Why do I bind them? I suppose I’ve bound them to learn from them, to receive their assistance, and to utilize their power on my behalf. I’ve never thought about my feelings in regard to the binding. As I said, a binding is like a negotiation. You call for a type of spirit, hopefully one answers. Then you negotiate for services. You offer, they counter, and then you accept or decline. Once summoned, I can choose to bind them here. I don’t believe it is forced on them, because sometimes the deal falls through. Trouble is, I make the offer and the cost is out there. If the negotiation fails, I don’t get the power back from the reagents. I’m not sure if they take it or it dissipates, but consequently I don’t approach the negotiating table lightly. Sometimes the strain of negotiating is too high and I end up with a headache. I hope all this is making sense. I’ve never tried to teach anyone. Most of my theory knowledge I learned in the 30’s taking early correspondence classes. Sometimes I read online Theurgical journals to keep up on new ideas. Most of the practical use I learned by doing, or by reading someone else’s way and just figuring it out.
Marco sighs “I’ll have to pray for the gift of astral hearing again. I believe that at a certain point in time I actually lost my ability to hear the true music of things. He sighs and thinks ”Another obstacle - reagents look just like mundane items... to use them for the ritual without having any method of sensing them is risky, how would I know if I used too many or too few. “
Frustrated, he looked at Jed and then asked? “You said something about having dinner before we start? “ Jed felt a moment of embarrassment. I eat at a nearby noodle cart most of the time, or I eat nutrient bars. I have a little stuff to make a salad, as my roommate is particular as you are. Jed hesitated a moment before remembering that Marco was with him and helped him extract Joshua. [color] “Oh, that’s right, you were there. Joshua is still staying with me. The time he was down before resuscitating kinda messed up his memory. It’s still coming back to him. The noodle cart I go to is normal Japanese fare mostly, with Udon and Soba, but the proprietor is actually Vietnamese. They have an excellent Pho soup. Its rice vermicelli in beef broth, with fresh onion, basil, coriander, and a little bit of real meat. We can spare 30 minutes, as I don’t want to start summoning until dark. Do you want to go get some noodles real quick?[/color]
”I am happy to hear about Joshua, that spirit sure had a very irrational plan. It was smart but it lacked common sense and ignored mundane risks. I had a similar plan myself, I was there when Yelena shot him, I sensed it all but I could not enter the house. There was some ward that I could not get passed no matter how hard I tried. My own solution would have been to utilize illusion magic and prevent the person from getting shot in the first place. ”
He then adds
Noodles would be great, a nutrition bar is practical but completely defeats the purpose of food.”
Jed nodded. Considering a moment, he said On second thought, let me get my summoning out of the way, that way if it tires me out, I’ll get a break while we go eat. It shouldn’t take long, I never have trouble summoning, the difficult part is the binding. I don’t know what to do to tell you, because you can’t see the magic as I draw it together. I start by summoning the spirit I want, and if my negotiations go well and I secure a good amount of tasks promised by the spirit, I will then bind him. If I do not get an acceptable amount of tasks, I will dismiss the spirit and try again. Sometimes I will suffer some fatigue and take a break.
Jed sets himself and draws mana together, sending it to the ether to draw the attention of spirits. Jed feels a spirit moving through the astral and approaching the curtain. He focuses his will as he negotiates for tasks. Each pushes to better the other. Wow, this one is strong...push...pull...and done. Jed managed to negotiate two tasks. Not good enough to go through the effort to bind. Jed directs the spirit to manifest, allowing Marco to examine his spirit. Then, dismissing him, he explains the problem to Marco. ”This one was stronger than I, and I didn’t come out well in that bargain”. I’ve dismissed him, and will try another. Jed focuses his will once again, drawing a spirit to him. Hardening his will, he presses for advantage in the exchange. My mana for your work. C’mon.Again Jed comes up short. Only two services again. What the hell?! This was his thing. Why was he having trouble. Feeling embarrassed he dismissed this spirit again. Third time's the charm.
Sorry Marco, I usually don’t have this much trouble.I’m usually more competent than this. You’re slipping old man
Jed spends a moment gathering himself. Does a little mediation, a few breathing exercises. One last time he sends mana into the ether. Calling. Drawing. A spirit approaches the curtain again. Jed steels himself and pulls. Pulls hard. He isn’t going to come out of the wrong side of this deal. He feels himself strengthen. The spirit is bending to his will. And success. 5 tasks. And in his moment of exultation, a sword slams into his temples. His head splits open and pain suffuses his whole body. His vision gains a white cast, blurring. After steadying himself. He draws a long hissing breath through clenched teeth. No sword. But exhaustion invades his entire body as his head starts to throb. His head, his eyes, the back of his skull. A long moan escapes his pursed lips as he holds onto a shelf trying to avoid toppling over. He has the spirit until sunrise, but he is in no condition to bind it. He starts to dismiss the spirit, but reconsiders. If I fall and crack my head, I’ll need him. Directing the spirit to that effect, and asking him to guard against accidents, he turns to Marco.
Marco, I’m sorry but I think I’m done for the night. I did well on this summoning, but it cost me too much. I don’t even think I can manage dinner. I’m sorry. Come back in the morning, and we can do a binding early, then head to the talismonger I met and work on our artificing with her.
The summoning was done so quickly that before Marco could react two more spirits were summoned. Marco added “You know that I do summon spirits, I could help you doing it and perhaps you get slightly more services next time. If I am here - you can use me...”
Jed slapped his forehead with his palm. Damnit, I must be all out of sorts. I was so focused on trying to figure out how to teach you that I forgot that you can assist me. I’ve never collaborated before, but conjuring together may give us a feel for how it works. Something else I just thought of. I have that dose of Deepweed that we bought to use on Joshua. If you use that before I try to teach you binding, you can actually see the flows, and might make it easier for you.
”Deepweed? It can work... I guess we did not need it after all, but things did not exactly go as planned. By the way, I actually have a very good talismonger contact if you need one. Though she keeps telling me that it is more satisfying to make your own magical tools. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow, how difficult it really is.”
I’d love to meet your Talismonger Marco. Good people to know. The one I just met will help us get started artificing tomorrow. It'll be a full day. Binding in the morning and artificing in the afternoon. I'm sorry, I've got to lay down. I'm barely on my feet. I'll see you in the morning.
Marco replied “It happens... I am the first to know that spirits do not always do what we want them to.”
