User:The Lord Reader/Sandbox 1

Magic (back to basics)
With how bare many articles on magic stuff are, I will try to catalog info that might have been missed or hasn't been referenced.

Modern Western magic and modern magicians
Modern magician (近代魔術師) (atwiki) and Modern Western magic (近代西洋魔術) (atwiki) to Magician article and Magic article respectively.
 * Influence of the Golden Dawn on modern magic: Magic Names (es), terminology using Telesma, formation of members of God's Right Seat based on the order of the invocation of archangels in the, use of the terminology Cancellarius that also originates from the Golden Dawn (Keeper of records. One of the Three Chief Officers in the Neophyte Hall.), use of a Lotus Wand, Index Librorum Prohibitorum's John's Pen mode possibly being a reference to 's , etc
 * Christians called the existence God’s Blessings. Though the model society of modern Western magic, Golden Dawn, calls it Telesma, the nuance is closest to the concept of chimyaku or ryuumaku in eastern feng shui thought. As those names imply, it is myaku, or veins, that formed blood vessels extending everywhere and run throughout the world.
 * This is my liberal translation because both the Baka-Tsuki one and the Yen Press one are kinda incomplete and/or inaccurate:
 * Baka-Tsuki's version: Christians called the existence God’s Blessings. The creation of the Golden Dawn organization mapped the blueprint of Western magic called Telesma. In terms of contemporary language, the most similar were the geography and astronomy of Feng Shui. As the name would suggest, a pulse formed from the forces and flows of the entire world that formed blood vessels extending everywhere.
 * Yen Press version: Crossism calls this “God's Blessing.” Though the model society of modern western sorcery, Stella Matitina, calls it Telesma, the nuance is closest to the concept of chimyaku or ryuumyaku in eastern feng shui thoughts. As those names imply, it is myaku, or veins, that spread out like blood vessels and run throughout the world.
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu: The term ‘magician’—especially the modern magicians that were established in the 19th century, will carve their wishes onto their souls. This is the magic name. Carving the reason why they want to learn magic or give up their entire lives for the one goal by writing it out it in Latin.
 * Stiyl Magnus: [Aleister Crowley] was active about seventy years ago, but the evolution of magicians during the past seventy years has surpassed the progress gained throughout the history of the past several thousand years. Of all the magicians in the world today, about 20% of them are his followers, and almost 50% of all magicians are affected by him to some extent.
 * Agnes Sanctis: Maybe I’m a bit disrespectful...but I don’t have a good impression of any magicians--it's not just the Amakusa, but especially those modern Western magic societies that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century that twist Christianity or use backdoor tricks.
 * Agnese Sanctis: I wonder if you know that in modern Western magic, there are five elements— fire, wind, water, earth, and ether— that have their own symbolic weapons. A ‘stick’ represents fire, a ‘dagger’ represents wind, a ‘cup’ represents water, and a ‘round table’ [a disk probably] represents earth: these are the so-called elemental weapons.
 * Didn’t I say this before? The basic theories behind modern Western magic that was established in the 20th century were just some backdoor teachings of Christianity- or in the words of the alchemists, ‘these are secrets of Christianity that humans don’t know of.’
 * Tsuchimikado about Oriana Thomson: Aiya, is this really the case? I always felt that there was something wrong about Oriana. If she’s really a complete warlock, there should be some magicians whom she taught that will act as her underlings. Shouldn’t that be something that Lidvia should be doing?
 * Oriana Thomson: The five elements form the basis of modern Western Magic. From an alchemist’s viewpoint, anyone can have them, but this is just a prelude.
 * The majority of modern day “advanced wizards” did not build extravagant castles or towers. If you focused all your power in one place, you would lose everything if that place was searched. As such, they would instead prepare numerous places that could be easily abandoned such as an apartment, a rented room, or an RV. Splitting up one’s assets into smaller areas lowered the risk of losing everything.
 * Aiwass: Rather, calling me an ‘angel’ is alright too… At least, it’s closer to the truth compared to the rumored ‘extraterrestrial life form’, ‘holy guardian angel’, ‘the true person who holds the secrets to modern Western magic organizations’ and wild ideas like those.
 * Fiamma of the Right: The modern magician that was established at the end of the 19th century fundamentally hates working in groups. Even a genius group starting with “Golden” had an internal split caused by personality issues. The Roman Catholic Church worked at the goal of creating group fighting techniques with its doctrine at the core, but…well, you know how things are, right? Magicians value the individual.
 * Fiamma of the Right: Fire, water, wind, earth. Each of those four elements carries the leading edge of its type of power, but at the same time, using one element has a broader effect on the three other elements. That is why all large-scale ceremonies except practical battle ones use one of each symbolic weapon as opposed to just the symbolic weapon of the primary element. That is true even in fire ceremonies.
 * Leivinia Birdway: For example, modern Western magic cabals use something like secret tricks of the Christian Church.
 * Achieving [washing away original sin] by artificial means is the easy-to-understand goal of modern Western magic.
 * Kanzaki Kaori: Except for special cases like the #10 Saint, modern magicians are prohibited from a certain action [flight].
 * Leivinia Birdway: Having a body substitute just in case is one of the most basic of precautions. In fact, modern Western magic goes so far as to embarrassingly say we need to kill our old self and be reborn as our new self.
 * She was from a modern Western magic cabal. Those groups attempted to create new ways of valuing seemingly needless additions by taking the knowledge of the past and sublimating it to techniques leading to the future. They viewed the pure white as being nothing but a canvas. In their minds, the impurities that mixed into that were possibilities to take in new colors and create art. They refused to turn back as they attempted to create colors more wonderful than simple white.
 * Tarot could be used in many different ways, but in modern Western magic, a reversed card could be used to take advantage of the affinities between the four elements. What card was placed next to the current card could strengthen the useful symbols of the card or the troublesome symbols of the card.
 * Vasilisa: Yes, modern Western magic is based on secret tricks of Christianity.
 * When performing a large-scale ceremony, the effects of ley lines and the movement of the stars had to be taken into consideration. For that reason, one had to check on the terrain and coordinates.
 * “In modern magical combat, it is easy enough for magicians to fly, but causing them to fall is just as easy. That’s why the standard theory is to not rise above ten meters”
 * The ceremonial grounds used in modern Western magic and the cathedrals and churches of Christianity were formed by dyeing a certain space in the colors of a single religion.
 * Othinus: ‘Modern Western Magic’ sounds like it’s European magic put together by Europeans using European cultures, but that isn’t quite accurate.
 * Mina Mathers (Reading Thoth 78): Most of the modern magic that ended up continuing on to the modern era is judged to be a product of Aleister Crowley. Mathers’ name is not found there. His innocent but wicked desire was snuffed out before it could be achieved.
 * Modern Western magic was a system of techniques set up to give everyone equal access to the mystical, no special talent required.
 * Othinus: Make no mistake, human. New magic is not necessarily superior to old magic. If we are simply looking at ease of use, the modern Western magic spread by Crowley may be superior, but right now the focus will be on whether or not is effective against Aleister Crowley. That is the only difference that matters.
 * A staff or wand. That was the symbolic weapon of modern Western Golden-style magic. It would use the element of fire. Its coloration would be red. Its alignment would be right. The quality of the Telesma called forth and used would be that of Michael.
 * Most modern magicians did not use only the same materials as had been used in ages past for their magic. Even Stiyl used copy paper and lamination to make his rune cards easier to use. Magic could be activated using only the products found within a convenience store. There was no need to only rely on rare and expensive antiques. One used the most accessible materials to create the most simplified spells in order to wield the most powerful magic. That was the most convenient thing to do for someone who was relying on magic to survive while they fought.
 * There was no concept of equivalent exchange in modern magic. How great a result could one gain from a limited resource? It could be called a means of cheating each other using the exchange rate. As a result, the failure of a large-scale ceremony was all the more disastrous.
 * A market. When they used that term, they referred to a magic cabal that dealt in human trafficking.
 * The true essence of Golden-style ceremonial magic was the use of Telesma. The element of the angel corresponding to the desired object or desired effect would be chosen and then either taken into the magic user’s physical body, used as a foothold in the creation of special spiritual item, or simply used to create a phenomenon that would be impossible with simple magic power.
 * The summoning of an angel. Naturally, he was not dragging down an angel in its entirety. That was not something that could be done by a mere magician. Mark Space was only calling in a mass of Telesma. Most likely, what was categorized as an angel among Golden-style cabals was nothing more than a small fraction of their power. However, whether it was only a tenth or even a hundredth of their power, it was more than enough to do away with a magician or two.
 * The headquarters of the magic cabal Ellasone had been in contact with shortly before his disappearance was located in the remains of a soccer stadium a bit away from London. That was the fate of facilities that could not find a buyer. Most likely, modern magicians were in the locker rooms secretly calculating the locations of the stars, putting magnets on the end of red colored staffs to create fire symbolic weapons, and any number of other things..
 * Miss Tour Guide: You mean as opposed to the modern magic cabals that split their assets up among apartments and RVs in order to minimize the losses if any one place is searched?
 * Lessar: (The symbol of a patron saint often designates where that patron saint received persecution such as a gouged out eyeball or a severed breast. But using the emblem of the decapitated St. Paul to behead another… That just reeks of modern Western magic that loves secret tricks.)
 * Index Librorum Prohibitorum: Y-you mean the science side has started to seize a portion of the stars that lie at the base of modern Western magic!? If the composition of the planets is changed, it would destroy the basic foundation of magic… But we will surely change to meet the demands of this age!! We will deal with this like the Japanese dealt with the arrival of ideas from the West!!
 * “Having a closed environment is the foundation of magical combat. In fact, we construct temples by isolating a miniature world and twisting the laws within to a certain extent. The more special the location, the easier that is to do.”
 * The most basic act for a magician was the mental task of converting their body’s life force into magical power. Another basic act was dividing off a miniature world as a temple and temporarily twisting the laws within in order to call in the power of leylines, Telesma, or something else. Performing those different ceremonies could be called the miniature version of the modern Western magic style of summoning.
 * Even the Rosicrucian movement which forms the foundation of modern Western magic had its beginnings in a false book a single person wrote. …But the field of magic did not let it stop there. When that author later revealed the truth to the world, he was completely ignored. As many real magicians joined in and worked out the details, the era no longer needed the original author. The term Rosicrucianism continued to grow even though the man supposedly at the center of the movement had been ostracized.
 * In modern magic, breathing techniques and mental focus techniques were used to convert the magic user’s life force into magic power which could be used to perform various spells.
 * Itsuwa: My weapon is a rapier. In modern western magic, that can correspond to the dagger of wind or the magic sword that controls magic power as a whole.
 * Technically speaking, Agnese, Lucia, and Angelene were not magicians. Using mystical powers did not make one a magician. For example, Agnese did not have a magic name and she did not belong to a magic cabal. They were no more than nuns who followed the religion of Christianity and they viewed magic as tricks and vulnerabilities that took advantage of Christianity’s teachings.

Lifeforce, magic power, telesma, and Power of the World

 * “This thing called magic has multiple forms of existence. But the previous stage is no longer the same. The methods we can use to refine this talent will be dependent on religion, spells, and one’s own lifeforce. After that, it’s like a math problem. As long as one calculates it backwards, the answer will be out.” Imagine if there was 20 pounds of magic A, and a way to process magic called B. By comparing the two, if a person used the magic procession B needed to process 20 pounds of magic, how many pounds of this lifeforce would be required—this way, one could calculate the original ‘lifeforce’.
 * “This thing called magic……because of the approach of the caster, the quality and quantity will be different……but, I don’t think that this is enough to create a perfect counterattack nya.”
 * According to his explanation, this thing called magic was like gasoline. It was originally like the gasoline that we rely on so heavily, and was refined heavily through sects or religions like an oil processor.
 * “For Stiyl, if he were using the Aztec method to train his magic, the type of magic formed will be vastly different. Like using crude oil, one cannot refine it into gasoline, but into heavy oil and light oil nya.”
 * For an Amakusa Saint like Kanzaki Kaori, besides Christianity, there was still some essence of Buddhism and Shintoism. So they could freely adjust the type of magic and quality of the spell according to the situation.
 * Magic is created by lifeforce, if it continues to modify, it’ll cause changes in the human body like an engine being burnt, that’s all there is to it.
 * Basically, it all starts by refining one’s life force into magic power. Even in the magic side, there are a flood of different theories as to the definition of the soul, so this part is rather difficult to explain… If you think of the energy flowing through the human body as crude oil, then it is necessary to refine it into gasoline before using magic. One simple method is to use certain breathing techniques. But that is just one example of controlling one’s body. It can also be meditation, warming-up exercises, or fasting. Basically, you just have to manipulate bodily functions such as the flow of blood and the rhythm of the organs to bring them to the values you want. As people with some scientific knowledge, you probably know this, but most of the internal organs cannot be consciously controlled. Forcing a change in them is what allows one to refine that normally unreachable energy. But the internal organs function automatically because the alternative is dangerous. It’s the same reason that a computer’s system files are hidden by default. If someone without the proper knowledge were to mess with them, there is a danger of it coming back to bite them in the ass. In the past, that kind of thing seems to have been mistaken for divine punishment or a curse. Once you have the magic power needed to use magic, you just have to manipulate that power into the form that matches your wishes. There are many different types of vehicles, such as cars, motorcycles, boats, and airplanes, but they all still spin turbines using explosive power. …If you want to cross the ocean, you first need to think about what kind of vehicle you need, and you need to create the most suitable fuel by refining crude oil. This magic power is manufactured from the power that humans naturally possess, so it can be controlled relatively easily by the human will. But commands are needed for that purpose.

Spiritual Items

 * “This is what magic is. It’s the same as how “apple” and “ringo” mean the same thing. You don’t need a glass wand when a plastic umbrella is just as clear. It’s the same thing with tarot cards. As long as the design and numbers match, you can perform divinations with the cut outs from the back of a shoujo manga.”
 * “A-Anyway, the holy swords and magic wands used in ceremonies can be made with modern materials as substitutes, but there is a limit. …This especially goes for sacred items related to God such as the Lance of Longinus, Joseph’s Holy Grail, or The_ROOD. Even after 1000 years, it seems no substitutes can be made… ow…”
 * St Peter’s cross had a huge historical link with the St Peter’s Basilica, and even all of Rome and Vatican. It was the highest level of a spiritual weapon of all Christianity. / The Croce di Pietro. It truly existed in history, but up till now, the Roman Catholic Church had never revealed it. It could be said to be the highest level of spiritual item in historical ‘legends’ that could be compared to the holy items that the Son of God left behind.
 * “Normally, the tool used to cast magic is by a special item that the caster finds suitable to use…”
 * “[...]However, when performing more precise ceremonies, specialized tools are often used. For example, when referencing a story involving a legendary spear, it is more efficient to actually swing around a spear. Think of it as the difference between drawing a straight line with just a pen and drawing it with a straightedge.” She said that, but old-fashioned legendary items were not necessarily needed. The shape and function were all that was needed, so a plastic umbrella or a clothesline pole could be used in place of the spear. But adding details decreased the odds of failure, so various additional things could be done, such as attaching a knife to the end of the plastic umbrella. Things like that may end up looking like mysterious objects with no real meaning behind them to a normal person. “Those tools are known as spiritual items. With some exceptions, spiritual items are nothing more than tools. They are not something that is equipped to the oil refinery that is a magician. When a magician holds a spiritual item, the item becomes a part of the magician’s body, and a portion of the magic power flowing through his blood vessels and veins is circulated through it. A staff that shoots fire will only function once that much is done. But power can also be provided remotely, and with certain spiritual items, the magic power will circulate within it for a bit after the magician lets go of it,” Birdway explained. “These days, safety devices are incorporated into them, but in the past, the destruction of a spiritual item would sever that circulation and damage the magician. Symbolic weapons are the representative example of spiritual items. They are produced and consecrated by the user and no one else is allowed to touch them, but that is just out of fear that someone else interfering with it could cause the circulation to be incomplete.” “If we think of spiritual items in terms of the theatre, they include everything from the small props carried in the actors’ hands to the large props arranged on the stage. Means of support any larger than that would be a temple that I guess could be said to correspond to the theatre itself. Of course, dividing things up raises their effectiveness.” 
 * Normally, you would take an appropriate sword, color the hilt green and the scabbard red, consecrate it by engraving a divine name into it, and carefully guard it so only the owner can touch it.
 * It may be something like a large scale version of the types of ceremonies used to complete symbolic weapons that are specialized for a specific magic user.
 * A spiritual item was either a tool prepared in order to use magic or a tool that used magic and autonomously functioned.
 * A single miraculous item could be analyzed and then mass produced. Gathering mysteries that anyone could reach could help one reach out toward new areas no one had ever reached before.
 * Spiritual items were nothing more than tools used to assist in the use of magic. Rarer ones would sometimes ignore the magician using them and they were wielded as the core of the magic, but the person was still essentially at the center. A human magician wielded the spiritual item and passed magic power through it to activate the spell using the necessary ceremony.
 * Just like in many other cultures, Norse women used plants. Highly dangerous magical plants as well as herbs and spices sold at normal stores could be used as magical tools by them. If you had the proper knowledge, magical materials could be gathered at a convenience store.
 * I am a crystallization of the Rosicrucian age that predates even the Golden cabal. I am one of the autonomous parasitic spiritual items that were the envy of all. Even a lower-end estimate gives me 300 years of experience in this field, yet some little girl is going to outdo me!!!???
 * That might sound awfully ordinary for this kind of work, but that was normal. Almost anything found in everyday life could be used for magic. In particular, things used for cleaning and sterilization could be used for purification and things that led to pollution and decay could be used for curses. Good examples of the former were water, salt, and fire. Good examples of the latter were mud and animal blood.
 * The staff had an angel carving curled up at the head, but it was known as the Lotus Wand. That magical item functioned as an all-purpose Symbolic Weapon in modern Western magic.
 * Magicians traditionally constructed their own magical items and temples and refused to let anyone else touch them. That strengthened your connection with the items and reduced any noise from other people.

Magic Circles

 * “……You’re using such a stupid analogy again; that’s the . This isn’t a single product, but a Middle age magic array that’s used within a circular array.”
 * “The pentagram or the hexagram that you novices think about is used to add an additional effect. In order to add on to the basic effect of the circle, we add the seal of King David or the .”
 * “The last step of setting up a magic array is to add other things, like words. Most of the time, we write something outside the circle to declare which angel we want to borrow power from.”
 * While speaking, he continued to write some things along the circumference of the circle. Because it was a scary magic array, Kamijou thought that he would use an unknown ancient language. But he was just writing English.
 * “Just like this case, I’ll have to write down the name of the angel whom I want to borrow the power from. I’ll then have to specify the type of power I want, like ‘fire’ or ‘wind’. I will also have to write down what kind of Telesma I need, and how much power. The quality of the power is important, but what’s more important, and maybe surprisingly, is the quantity. If it’s too little, I definitely won’t be able to activate the spell. But if it is too much, the excess will go out of control, so it’s difficult to find an optimal amount.”
 * “Once I get the correct amount and quality of Telesma, I’ll have to write down how I’m going to use it. Maybe the caster will input this power into his staff and get some special ability, or maybe he will set it up around the magic array for defence, etc. With that—”
 * “But there’s still a weakness about using this type of magic array. The more complicated the picture is, the more difficult it’ll be to control it. Like the word ‘front,’ besides the meaning of facing forward, there’s also the meaning of ‘promenade.’ If there’s a difference in what the caster intended and what is interpreted incorrectly on the magic array, the spell will go out of control and cause the caster much trouble……but if it’s one’s own misinterpretation, the caster must be pretty talented.”
 * “In the end, the amount of information given for this magic array has a direct relation with its power. The complicated look and the lines added are just details that are added onto it. The reason why I used four pieces of colored paper for this ‘all-around reality array’ is to add decorations that signify that I want to collect information from every single direction. With this, how much power does a grimoire that’s entirely stuffed with magical knowledge? —Basically, an original grimoire is a high-intensity magic array. Even specialized magicians find it tough to handle nya.”
 * Not all of them apply, but a lot of the magic circles drawn on the ground are simplified versions of the sun or moon. Just like a constellation table, the original shape is entirely lost, but carving that into the ground is still thought to draw in the power of the heavenly body.

Spells

 * Steps of Counter Spell: research, analysis, reverse calculation, application, and engagement
 * there’s some spell called a……‘spiritual talk’. It’s a spell which uses the significance of speech to determine its power. There’s an order for the spiritual talk, and there’s a limit to the number of words to be used, like a ballad and a haiku. So just making a sound shouldn’t garner a response.
 * do you know what’s the easiest magic ritual in the world? It’s ‘touch’. The significance of ‘touching with a hand’ is especially large. In many religions, the values of the left hand and the right hand are different, because the left hand and the right hand have their own uses. In the New Testament, the Son of God, who’s especially prominent, is able to heal the sick or revive the dead just by touching them with his right hand. ‘Touching’ is a magical action that several religious sects will use, and not just Christianity.
 * Spells using Notarikon are called Quick Spells (kanji).
 * One can use magic just by sending magic power through one’s own blood vessels and nerves and by creating symbols with one’s gestures.
 * Magic was not known to the ordinary people living their ordinary lives, but that ignorance often led them to unwittingly stumble into it. For example, few people knew the shushing gesture of holding your index finger in front of your lips had its roots in an Ancient Egyptian ritual. Amateurs performed those ordinary actions all the time, so there was no need for anyone to wipe all trace of it clean. Small jinxes could be found in the greetings people exchanged on a daily basis without knowing a thing about the magic world. Even when you did not know how to actually refine your lifeforce into magic power, you could still gather some power as a faint margin of error. It was a lot like leaving behind invisible fingerprints.
 * "[Incantation chanting] consists of reciting a contract's contents or a mythological scene, for example. It might be easier if you think of it as a performance. By performing a mythological scene, you obtain a similar power. Originally, the performers prepared a stage at a temple or an altar. But unnecessary elements were gradually removed and abbreviated, resulting into a word-only spell."
 * "Chants are indeed a popular way to activate magic. But it's not like you can't cast spells without them. My robe's barrier is one of the examples. Then there's magic you can use even without chanting. Egyptian sistrum, Calabrian tambourine...You can compensate for your voice with instruments."

Grimoires

 * “In Japanese culture, many ordinary lullabies or fairy tales are magic grimoires that are camouflaged. For example, in the story Momotarou, there's actually no such person as 'Momotarou who was born from a peach'.”
 * “A grimoire cannot be burned, especially the special class of Original grimoires. Using small amounts of energy released by nature or lifeforce as power, the words, paragraphs, and chapters convert into a magical code, like an automatically powered magic spell. So, the most we can do is seal it.”
 * “An 'auto-powered magic array’ has to be activated by the weak magical energy released by humans. The magic that an author possesses is like an engine’s starter. A magician writing a grimoire will unconsciously input some magic into the paper along with the text. No matter what type of stationery or material is used, this phenomenon will always occur; thus, it’s unavoidable. She’s unable to use lifeforce to create magic, however, so this problem won’t occur. She can be considered the ideal candidate as the keeper of the Magical Library…”
 * “Yes. A grimoire is actually a blueprint. A grimoire that records lightning magic is also a mechanism that creates lightning. Even if an Original-class grimoire doesn’t rely on human magic, as long as there’s a little natural energy or life force nearby, that power will be magnified exponentially, creating a semi-permanent defensive mechanism.”
 * “Being unable to do so now, however, doesn’t mean that it can’t be done in the future. Since the original is also a grimoire, if someone added in a few specific words or paragraphs, they’d be able to make it ineffective. It’s like operating switches to change a train's path; we can use it on the grimoire itself in order to destroy its magic array. In other words, it’s to allow the original to self-destruct.”
 * Origin of grimoires: By stuffing any knowledge related to magic into someone, the knowledge will form a magic array without the caster’s will. Even if the caster doesn’t use magic, it’ll cause the ‘power’ released by nature and lifeforce to multiply, making it active semi-permanently.
 * Basically, an original grimoire is a high-intensity magic array.
 * A book that had the secrets of magic. At first glance, it didn’t look impressive, but any ordinary human would get a nervous breakdown if they just read the contents only. Also, the chapters, paragraphs and words of the book would become a semi-permanent magic array that would automatically counterattack if anyone was to try and destroy it.
 * “A grimoire has a similar nature as a magic array, since the secondary effect of a grimoire originates from the effect of a magic array.”
 * In reality, it was as Stiyl said. Although the way it was written wasn’t conventional like ordinary books, where there was a specific rule that one had to write horizontally or vertically. But what if one was to read the text along the circle in a horizontal manner? If it just ‘required any type of quality and quantity to mix and match before getting some effect’—wasn’t it like a formula or some sorts? The formula of a spell. This was basically what a grimoire was about.
 * A grimoire was a book filled with magical knowledge. The ones known as Originals were especially dangerous. They held such high quality foreign knowledge that they were said to “contaminate” the brain of anyone who read them. In all seriousness, they were able to forcibly demolish a human’s personality. Normally, the majority of grimoires used for studying were copies. A copy was a grimoire where the purity of its knowledge had been lowered from the Original. Depending on their purpose, there were countless variations in how much of the Original was used within a copy, so there were many different subtypes scattered about like they were some type rogue computer virus.
 * “Hmm. Come to think of it, that’s pretty risky too,” said Birdway lightly. “Despite the fact that reading an Original is said to destroy your personality, there are people who go out of their way to create copies. Do you know what happens when they do? Towards the end, they seem to faint while they foam at the mouth, but their fingertips continue to move like some kind of machine.” / “Yes, but it seems certain people with a special disposition have a natural mechanism in their brain that defends against the contamination from an Original.” / “Like the Index Librorum Prohibitorum? That too is pretty risky. Just how many defensive mechanisms does she have put inside her? You can call them religious defensive walls all you want, but one wrong step could modify her mind to the point that she loses all her functionality as a human dozens of times over.”
 * “No one can destroy an Original.” Birdway grabbed a juice box from out of the air and tossed it away again once she realized it was already empty. “An Original is a collection of high purity magical knowledge and each page, topic, and diagram acts like a high level magic circle. You could say it is an autonomous magical device. They gather up the faint power leaking from leylines, amplify it hundreds of times, and create thorough defenses and counter attacks in order to ensure that not even a tiny bit of the knowledge held within itself is destroyed. This effect does not allow any natural weathering of the parchment and prevents it from being destroyed even if all sorts of magicians work together in a group.”
 * Grimoires could be transmitted from one person to another. There would remain only the one original, but a copy could be newly made. When that happened, the illustrations and diagrams caused the most trouble. In consecutive editions, even the grimoires covering the ceremonies for the Golden magic cabal had alterations to the magic circles, rose symbol, and other descriptions that needed to be seen to understand. (Most of the changes were made to make them look fancier and more impressive.) The text alone was not enough for a grimoire. Without both the correct text and the correct diagrams, the true wisdom could not be reached. Human ignorance and vanity would hide the key somewhere.

Idol Theory

 * “I’m not lying to you. Here’s an example. Wouldn’t there be a cross at the top of the roof of a church? These crosses have a special power, but are these crosses the ones used to kill the saints? The answer is obviously no. The crosses on the top of the churches are all fake, but even a fake can have power. As long as the shape and purpose is similar, it can obtain a small portion of the real one. This is the Idol Theory.”
 * “For Touma’s sake, I’ll give a brief explanation. The Idol Theory is a form of basic knowledge that allows us to put the power of God and angels to good use. According to this theory, if one were to build a duplicate of the cross on which Christ was crucified and put it on the roof of a church, some of the holy power from those actual cross-wielders will be replicated. The power of the duplicate is not even 0.000000000001% of the original's--even the greatest legendary duplicate, Holy Manger, contains only a small fraction of that power--but if someone obtained even 1% of the original's power, they could match even the Twelve Apostles.” All over the world, from the ones on churches to the ones hanging on nuns’ necks, there were a lot of crosses. But even with the power split away into so many duplicates, the power of the original was almost limitless. Maybe it’s like how the sun provides solar power for electricity, Kamijou guessed wildly.
 * In the Idol Theory of Christianity, when duplicating the Cross that the Son of God was executed on, the duplicate will have some power as well
 * This magic power is manufactured from the power that humans naturally possess, so it can be controlled relatively easily by the human will. But commands are needed for that purpose. It is possible to construct them from nothing, but that is just too inefficient. It’s much easier to reference an already existing legend or story. After all, the legends that are still widely known today and have not been weeded out are the ones that have a suitable answer in them.
 * “It is easier to write with your hand than with your foot. And it is usually easier to write with your right hand than with your left. …That is common knowledge that has spread throughout most of the world. But it is easier to write with your right hand because people have been writing with their right hands for ages and ages. The parent teaches the child, and the child teaches the grandchild. It keeps getting passed down like that. As many people have continued writing with their right hands, a method of neatly writing has naturally formed around that. …If people had started writing with their left feet from the beginning, then a culture of writing with the left foot would have been created.” / “So, creating a command from nothing is like beginning to practice writing with one’s left foot now?” / “But even so, the new application of magic power is not impossible. If you worked hard and mastered that path, you may even catch up to the right hand. But would that have any meaning? Maybe if you could not use your right hand, but when you can use your right hand, it’s much more efficient to just use it. And the optimization of this age’s culture is moving ahead in that way. And the situation changes even more depending on whether you are using a religious system in order to create the phenomenon you want or are trying to create a phenomenon within your faith in a religious system.”
 * [...]if you want to interfere with Point B from Point A, you have to focus on the concept of imitation. You can also call it Idol Worship. In the world of magic, objects with similar shapes will influence each other. For example, a doll can take on the injuries meant for a person.
 * You’re talking about infection magic. It’s a type of curse that focuses on the target’s hair contained inside the straw doll. The person’s blood, fingernail, hair, or another part of their body is used to affect the whole. The straw doll itself is just a traditional method with no real origin behind it.
 * Not all of them apply, but a lot of the magic circles drawn on the ground are simplified versions of the sun or moon. Just like a constellation table, the original shape is entirely lost, but carving that into the ground is still thought to draw in the power of the heavenly body.
 * Clothing was a symbol of one’s position. A king wore a crown and a priest wore a habit to display the power of their position to themselves and others. Criminals would have such clothing destroyed in public. The same idea applied to the field of magic. For example, some magic could draw out great power by dressing up as the Egyptian or Greek gods and putting on grand plays. It was also said that witches would dress in male clothing to gain special power.
 * The Golden magic cabal, said to have once been the world’s greatest, had researched how to gain a mythology or religion’s power using a stage performance. Part of “getting into character” for those performances was to dress up as a god.

Magical foundations

 * “[...] The ley lines and other veins of magical energy are still artificially altered. You are still drawing in energy from around the world in order to spread your influence. As long as this structure remains, we cannot be free. If you wanted to, you could rob us of our magical foundation and cause all of our crops to fail.”
 * “Now, a question. How much longer until London’s magical foundation is utterly destroyed? 120 seconds? 60 seconds? 30 seconds? Ah ha ha!! Did the units of seconds scare you!? If you weren’t expecting that, you are much, much too late!! The only reason you can see me now is because you have fallen so far behind that I have lapped you!!” If the Anglican Church’s headquarters of London had all of its spiritual items and temples destroyed and Necessarius lost most of its power, chaos would spread around the world. That overwhelming wave would wash everything else away. They would be unable to carry out normal investigations. Without any ability to gather and manage information, no one could pursue Aili. She could escape.
 * “My country was destroyed! The temples, cathedrals, and personal spiritual items were all destroyed! The entire magical foundation was obliterated. It will take years to recover. Maybe even decades!!”
 * “Only that it was devastating on all counts. The spiritual items, temples, cathedrals, and all other devices making up the magical foundation were so thoroughly destroyed that detailed damage reports cannot be calculated out.”
 * “The pound economy was taken out, but we can’t just lament that fact. Historical and valuable devices from around the world are gathered in the British Museum. Examples will be needed to rebuild and repair the lost magical foundation of those nations. The items in the British Museum can function as a decent backup in that way.”
 * “If what we heard is true, the pound economy’s magical foundation has been devastated. They can’t use any magic they can’t pull off empty-handed or with a wooden stick. Savage magic cabals might use this as a chance to attack the pound economy nations. Also, the loss of the pound economy will weaken the Anglican Church and increase their external risk. The queen will want to make a swift recovery even if it means ignoring her other official duties.”
 * “Curtana Second’s blade remains chipped after its clash with the Original. The UK’s occult system is currently unstable. That said, the system of this magic kingdom is still supported by the queen’s Second, so it is nothing to sneeze at.”
 * “Eheh☆ Since the Curtana-controlled system is currently unstable, you just might be able to fully hijack the UK by using those four items. …It’s not so much a backdoor as it is another system running in parallel that you can use to enter the mainframe.”
 * This was an alternate foundation for the system of control that symbolized the three powers and four regions. This other system never could have revealed its power if the Curtana control system were not unstable.

Other

 * The word necromancy might bring to mind techniques of controlling a rotting corpse, but the field was divided into many different factions and schools. For example, summoning a spirit of the dead and having them predict the future was a form of necromancy. So was wearing the clothing of the dead to become one with them. In a way, necromancy was a technique of controlling humans, living or dead. After all, some necromancers would take a summoned soul (or what seemed to be a soul) and sealed it inside their own body, so they had to understand how a living body worked as well. Using that knowledge, they could also begin to experiment and see how much could be eliminated from a human body while still remaining themselves.