The Five Elements

Another full moon.

Before going into the details of spellcasting, we need to learn the basic elements of a spell. The most important element of the spell: the ingredients.

Again, I would like to stress that spellcasting is not as rigid and fixed as in ye olde days, where each step had to be done precisely and exactly like the book said. Modern spellcasting involves flexibility, improvisation, and personalization. In other words, each spell is unique, and no two spells are exactly alike.

1. Ingredients must be made of natural elements. This can include materials processed from naturally occurring substances. To illustrate, a car tire can be a spell ingredient, because it is processed from natural rubber. Plastics, however, like the one used in water bottles, cannot be used, as they are totally synthetic.

2. Ingredients must represent all the five elements, in any ratio, depending on the spell type.

Now what are the Five Elements? These are Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Life. I know that it sounds a lot like that cartoon series "Captain Planet", but just because something is found in a kid's cartoon show doesn't mean it's not right. In fact, most of the ancient knowledge have become so commonplace that they have permeated popular culture, and people tend to take them for granted. But that's actually a good thing, as it protects the knowledge from those prying unbelievers.

The Five Elements are not the same elements that we know, meaning they are not the same elements on the periodic table. The Five Elements are actually the five basic groups of materials found on this earth. So from the very top, we begin with the Element Air, which is basically everything from the stratosphere to the surface, but which also includes breath.

The second Element is Earth, which includes all the rocks and minerals. Most of the elements we know, such as gold, silver, bronze, mercury, etc., fall under Earth.

The third Element, Water, includes, but is not limited to, anything liquid. This includes sea water, fresh water, rain water, coconut milk, and urine.

The fourth Element is Fire. This mostly includes anything with a physical flame, although anything with an extremely high temperature would also fall under this category.

And finally, the fifth Element is Life. This includes anything that is alive: trees, animals, insects, and humans.

Now, there are some materials that can be classified into more than one Element, so where to classify it would depend on the spellcaster's skill. For example, blood can be either Water, or Life, depending on the spell. But it cannot be both.

All the ingredients of the spell must represent the Five Elements, so you should have at least five ingredients before attempting to cast a spell. Again, due to the unique nature of every spell cast, some spells may even be cast with less than five Elements present, but that is for the advanced spellcasters, and again depends on the intent of the spell. The basic spells use all Five Elements in different ratios. Also, the spells that use all five are generally considered more effective.