Winter - January 4: Nyla to Tess
A single letter from Dear Sister, Letters Of Misunderstood Magic: Volume 3
Winter - January 4
Dear Tess,
Intent is a powerful weapon, as dangerous as wild magic when mishandled and as subtle as morning dew when properly wielded. I've been studying how it weaves through the fabric of magical lies, particularly those that shimmer with false truth in the Temporal realms.
The Temporals fascinate me with their surface-level beliefs - how they cling to differences of skin and birth-realm as if these were the deepest truths of existence. They remind me of the time Ivy tried to explain color to her blind mare - all technical accuracy but missing the essential nature of sight.
If words alone held power, every library would be a temple of magic and every newspaper a spell book. But we know better, don't we? True words must be carried on the wings of intent, must be breathed into life with conscious intent; however, intent alone will not create results. The Temporals speak magical words like children playing with their mother's wand - all motion, no meaning.
The Salem incident weighs heavily on my mind lately. Those events were a masterwork of misdirection, though not in the way most believe. While Temporals burned their neighbors over fabricated fears, real magic walked among them, invisible not through spells but through their own inability to see past their expectations. Like that clever fox-sister of ours Ione, says - the best hiding place is often in plain sight.
Fairy tales serve as both mask and mirror - concealing truths while reflecting them. The Temporals believe they've preserved cautionary tales, never realizing they are reading coded histories of our kind. When they speak of witches in gingerbread houses, they miss entirely the story of Great-Aunt's sanctuary during the witch hunts, where she saved dozens through her clever use of protection glamours and bread-based healing magic.
The opposite of a truth isn't always a lie - sometimes it's simply another facet of the same crystal. Light appears singular until properly refracted. Much like those crystal-wielding Temporals in the metaphysical shop downtown who think holding a pretty rock will solve all their problems. If only they knew the real work involved - they might stick to their healing crystals from China.
I've enclosed a sprig of canyon sage - it carries intent particularly well, and I suspect you'll know just how to use it. Just don't let it anywhere near your cats - mine tried to use it as a toy and ended up accidentally summoning a rather confused desert spirit.
In Shadows and Starlight, Nyla
P.S. Never forget the power of a Witch’s tears and why the Temporals attempted to extract them.