Introduction Incantation

Alice looked to the time keeping device above her desk. "Mr. Cabyll-Ushtey, class is about to start. You may not be one of my students, but you've committed to spending this period here. I'll have you released if you will return to your seat and prepare for class."

Alice's smile did not cease as she chastised the not student. When she was eight Voldegra had told her that smiles seem to put humans at ease, and she tried to practice this lesson when possible now that she was spending more time out among them. "You're right, Chloe. Gaforgamarl is not a friendly beast, but I haven't commanded it to harm your friend. It's just making sure he doesn't skip our lesson."

With a tilt of her head, Alice uncovered the dark marks coiled under her hair at the edge of her face. "I don't know Shi Mei myself, but we both..." Do not speak my name. Please. The child fell silent. Voldegra sensed that concealing its name would not be easy for her. It did not blame the child. She had called it freely for nearly half of her life. "...have a friend."

Another student entered, this one wearing some sort of ruffled coverings that Voldegra was not certain were part of the uniform. Regardless, both it and Alice were so pleased by this fancy mortal attire that they were not concerned. Her swift bow pleased them as well. "Welcome. You're just in time."

@ReD

Alice gave a sharp nod toward the not student as she walked up to the front of the class room. "Gaforgamarl, discipulum solvi et mensam redi." The plush tiger's claws retracted slowly, perhaps reluctantly. It hopped onto Alice's desk and shrunk into Mr. Pudding's unaltered form. "If you insist on leaving then you may, but I ask you not to run away this time. And I will need to mark you absent."

Children were beginning to step into the room more often, taking their seats with the whispers and chat of mortal youth. Alice ceased her smile and adopted the look of calm precision her face fell into during her studies. "I think enough of you are here to start class, so welcome to Ritual Magick. I'm Alice Corbie. For those of you who have not already met him, this is my teaching assistant, Mr. Pudding." She swept a hand toward the plush tiger flopped on the desk beside her. "He'll be helping with my demonstrations and any magic you may attempt in this class."

Her outstretched hand turned from toy to business case. She lifted out copies of her notes and passed out the pages as she processed along the aisles of desks. "I'm giving you a brief discussion of the core principles and symbols used in post-Crowley ritual magick. A practical magician needs to commit such things to memory as soon as possible, but you can think of these as reference material for the moment."

When Alice returned to her place of prominence beside the desk, she stood and considered the youths before her. Most looked human, but a few were at least slightly something else. "I'm new to the academy, but I'm aware that we teach a wide variety of magical methods of which mine is only one. With this in mind, I'm curious what you expect to learn here with me. Do any of you have questions or thoughts to begin the lesson?"

So the not student wished to leave, but also wished to know things. This mortal confused Voldegra immensely.

Alice, however, was satisfied by his question. "No and yes. By post-Crowley I mean that we will be studying ritual magick as performed by and after Aleister Crowley. Much of his Magick in Theory and Practice will be class text here. I'll give attention to older forms as well, but the focus of the class will be modern magick. Ritual substitution is a related notion, though. Ritual magick relies on symbol and representation, formally known as the sympathetic principle. What is like or connected to something has a sympathetic link to it, and such a link can be used to direct magickal force."

Alice ran her fingers through her hair and pulled out a few loose golden strands. "A bit of hair or blood gives me a direct connection to the person it belongs to. As far as magick is concerned, my hair is me and I am my hair." She tucked the hairs into the breast pocket of her suit. No need to leave any more of herself lying around the school than could be avoided.

Names. Fitting that the demon child asked this. This was not the first time her concern for names had been demonstrated. "Anything connected to someone has a sympathetic link with them, whether strong or weak. More direct connections are easier to work with, so parts of a body or pieces of an object are best, but representations can be used. What matters is creating a clear link to the subject. Names give a special sort of link. A name lets you identify your subject, and if you don't have part of them then a name is the only direct link between the magician and the subject. "

Alice gave Mr. Pudding a gentle pat with a single finger, provoking a loud growl from the toy's throat. A few gasps escaped some students who had arrived late enough not to see him help Alice with the troublesome not student. "This is especially important for spiritual beings like angels and demons. In some sense the names of these beings are the beings themselves. You could try to contact them by specifying the sort of thing you think they are, but unless you have their name you have no hold on the particular being you are trying to reach."