Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Enigmundia: Pagan Spells -- Charm Person, Protection from Evil, Sleep

My prior post on mage spells powered by pagan gods tackled three 1st level spells and one 2nd level spell. Here are three more by different gods.

Charm Person (1)

It should come as no surprise that Venus is the primary source of sudden charm. Given her powers, her past, and her nature, the only surprise seems to be that the spell is so subtle in its effects. Those who've endured its effects in the name of mystical inquiry have stated that the caster seemed to have suddenly become more attractive and worthy of friendship, and that romantic or sexual thoughts were only at the very edges of consciousness. Her patronage is often signified by the scent of rosewater and myrtle.

This effect is similar to another favorite patron for this spell: Bacchus. Victims of this flavor of the spell have mentioned experiencing a strong but ultimately fleeting bond of friendship with the caster, much like one who has shared a round of strong drink with a group of strangers and have become fast friends. The feeling of friendship evaporates in the same way that the prior night's drunken memories fade and are gone. His patronage is signified by the faint scent of wine that grows stronger as the spell nears its end.

Protection from Evil (1)

Terminus, god of boundaries, is often called upon to define the limits of property and location. Though fairly focused, his power and authority afford an easily tapped set of spells -- such as this one -- for mages.

No visible signs are shown, though ghostly boundary markers appear briefly when the protection is triggered by need.

As an aside, Terminus is also often called upon when inscribing certain magic circles or sacred geometry.

Sleep (1)

Because the name of the god is synonymous (in ancient Imperian) with the common name of the spell, many mages are unaware of the patron of this spell: Somnus.

Somnus is the god of sleep, and ruler of a vast land of dreams, chimeras, and nightmares in the Underworld. He belongs to a set of gods (known in the Parthenian tongue as the Demos Oneiroi) of that place not directly related to death or hell, and raises the eyes of many scholars and mystics regarding our understanding of those vast unknown depths. They have been mentioned elsewhere in this blog as Hypnos, Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasus.

For this spell, in the caster's shadow, appear to wings briefly stretch and move, arising from the caster's shoulder or brow.

2 comments:

  1. Nice. I like the way you're tying spells to the Classical deities. How about Somnus for the Sleep spell, and Morpheus for divinatory magic, or a spell to send messages via dreams?

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  2. @Dariel: Yes, the Demos Oneiroi will continue to have a presence in the list! I was thinking of Phantasus for Phantasmal Force, Morpheus would be one of the patrons for divination, along with Apollo.

    Of course, Somnus is already mentioned above as the main patron for sleep.

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That's my side of things. Let me know what you think, my friend.