Spells

A Spell is a writing, symbol, utterance, ritual or performance that produces an affect or outcome in the world. These manipulations range from the inception of ideas, to the creation of impulses, the workings of emotion, the conjuration of effects, the evocation of forces, and the patterning of will.

Any transformation of the world achieved by means that go beyond simple physical labour (that is brute force) or mental logic, or reasoned discussion, is, we might say, the result of a spell.

The core of a spell is known by mortals as a 'verb', which can be seen to be a form of the word 'wrap', which is an anagram of 'warp'. Thus a spell warps the world. In these latter days we have come to define a verb as an 'action word' or 'doing word', but it's ancient definition or meaning was simply 'word'. Many nouns are derived from verbs. The one who shears a sheep is the shearer. The one who listens is the listener.

The magical lexicon and jargon of the fairies is patterned on the metaphor of weaving - the work upon the loom that illuminates. And thus a spell has warp and weft. In the mortal realm we speak of adverbs and adjectives, and these are different classes of weft, and go across purposes to sway the warp one way or another, or transmute or augment a known: for example, a jump can be made high, or a flower can be made red.

... ( see also On Fairyland ).

Note that the word 'translate' (as used to describe the transfer of meaning from one language to another) is one thing, but to 'translate' (that is, move from one place to another in a straight line) is not a different thing...