LIBER II

A Post-Modern Grimoire

Zen Navigation

This spell allows the caster who finds his or herself in a situation in which there is a need to follow someone, find a thing, or seek a place without the luxury of a map, area knowledge, or homing device.  The caster first focuses her consciousness/awareness upon the target, be it a destination, object, or living quarry.  Once a firm connection has been established, the mage must “lock-on” to the target, never letting the attention waver. The caster becomes so focused upon the target that as she moves towards the target, be she on foot or in a vehicle, the usual difficulties of travel will not hamper her.  So long as she maintains this trance like state she will be able to arrive at the target just as if she knew exactly where to turn, how far to go, and when to stop.  To the unknowing bystander the caster will appear lost, or at the very least to be simply wandering randomly, though in reality the mage is allowing both her inborn senses and her magical connection with the target to guide her through the unseen pathways that lead straight to the target.  The one drawback of the spell is that should the caster lose focus for some unforeseen reason, the caster may have to contend with the likelihood of being lost or losing her quarry.
(Components) The most effective focus or sympathetic element of this spell would either be a compass or loadstone, ritually charged expressly for this purpose and carried or worn on the caster’s person.  Though a personally significant object associated with travel, or a seeking rune, could always be used instead or in conjunction.

Alacrity

This spell enables the caster to increase her own natural physical speed.  This is accomplished by the caster extending her senses into her own body.  Once a state of continuous biofeedback has been achieved she uses her magical will to increase the output capacity of her muscles, tendons, and ligaments.  This increase in output capacity will allow her body to propel her motion at much higher speeds as long as she continuously feeds magical energy into the spell.
(Components) This spell doesn’t simply make a person fast, it enhances what physical prowess is already present. Thus, the components for this spell are physical fitness and the ability to use meditation or trance techniques to achieve biofeedback.

The Old Straight Track

This divination spell both allows the caster to create a mental map of lay lines in the area, but also to gather power from them by walking along them.  First the caster clears her mind, then she extends her senses as far as they will go, searching for hints of raw magical power, the area of her search limited only by her magical prowess.  Once her senses have picked up on the source, she extends her consciousness into these lines of power. Once she is hooked up to the “grid” of interlocking ley lines, she will be able to walk along them. This is allows a magus with sufficient capacity to gather power from these lines like a whale feeding on plankton.  Do be careful, as a high dose of raw power could severely shock or overload and unwary magus. 
(Components) A dowsing rod would be very helpful, while one of wood is more attuned to the wild natural power of the lines, any rod of any material will do.  Perhaps a compass whose needle has been attuned to power instead of north would work well.  Loadstones or simple concentration are also quite effective.

Alarm

This spell allows the caster to set up an invisible magical alarm system in a specific area.  T the caster weaves together sensitive strands of magical energy around the desired area like a spider web.  When the strands are disturbed they will silently alert the caster in an empathetic manner.  The energy strands can be further strengthened with traps, contingency spells, and secondary alarms to prevent circumvention or the success of a counterspell.
(Components) In the astral realm the visualization of the strands of energy is usually component enough.  In the physical realm the caster may find aid in the use of actual spider silk or cobwebs, but a bit of string tied around the perimeter will also do the trick of focusing the spell during casting.

Manifest Reality

This spell allows the caster to gradually change and warp the reality of a specific area in the physical realm.  Given that reality can be visualized and exists as a jumble of energy patterns, the mage makes subtle alterations to those patterns, slowly bending reality to his will.  This spell is done by first becoming intimately aware and familiar with these local patterns.  Then usually through sympathetic or visualized means, the caster channels energy into these patterns, slowly altering their fundamental form.  This is a process that takes time, yet when completed allows the caster to permanently alter the flow of energy, and therefore to a certain extent the output of those energies in the physical realm.  Some examples of this spell could be a mage heightening the tangible presence of magick in a specific area, a mage causing an area to produce certain types of dreams when people sleep in a specific area, or perhaps the caster simply wants to change the general presence of a place.  This is a slow moving spell and requires the expenditure of a tremendous amount of energy, especially if a more permanent change is desired.
(Components) Often the best method for this spell is deep meditation and the willful manipulation of energy, following the energy shift like breathing so as to change the fundamental elements of the area. Candle burning, incense smudging, and physical rituals such as dance are also effective, though must be repeated over time, thus making the meditation method more viable on a practical material level, as it does not require the constant replenishment of physical components.

Affect Lifeline

This spell can be used to reduce or increase the fundamental vitality of entities that consciously move across the threads of time.  The caster makes magical contact with a visualization of the lifeline of the target entity.  Then the caster uses the will to alter the lifeline’s pattern.  The entity can be made to lose or gain vitality in an amount determined by the caster’s power and skill.  This is a potent spell however the changes will not be immediate, due to the subtle nature and invasiveness of the spell it will produce its effects over time.  So while the effects of this spell will take time to manifest the spell itself will be much more difficult to detect and counter.

(Components) The spell works best if the entity to be affected is touched in some way by the caster.  For more potency and success the caster may find it useful to perform a more ritualistic version of the spell in which the caster touches the entity with a finger that has a bit of string attached to it.  The string is later used sympathetically and is either cut or lengthened with more string.

Dreamscape

This spell gives the caster the ability to not only enter the dream of another, but to control and direct them as if the caster was in her own lucid dream.  The caster enters into a meditative state and sends her astral self into the dreamscape.  Once in the dreamscape the caster uses a pre-established connection with the target to find their present dreaming.  Then the caster enters the dream and changes according to her will, anything is possible.  The caster can enter and alter the dream as subtly as being a non-intrusive and silent observer or as forward as ripping the dream apart and building an entirely new dream that the target is forced to experience.  The limitations of the control and influence over the target’s dreams are dependent upon the skill and power of the caster.  Also, if the target realizes that the caster is the source then a battle of wills may begin for control of the dream.
(Components) The components of such a spell are also the methods of casting the spell.  One needs to be skilled in meditation, powerful of will, and knowledgeable of the ways of the dreamscape.  The connection that needs to be established before the spell is cast can be made with anything sympathetically linking the caster and the target.  It could be something positive like the relationship of a significant other or a flower from a friend, or as negative as a bit of hair or an object once owned by the target.

Conceal

This spell enables the caster to render an object or entity effectively invisible.  The caster uses his senses to become familiar with the patterns of the object or entity in question.  Once knowledge of the make up of the target the caster then uses his magical will to isolate the patterns within the target that allows other entities to perceive its presence by spatial awareness.  The caster alters the spatial patterns of the target to resemble negative space instead of occupied space of the target’s size.  If the target moves or is moved the spell will be much less effective unless energy is used by the caster to maintain the spell’s integrity in motion.
(Components) When casting this spell on objects usually sprinkling some sand or dust on it will provide amble substance for focusing the will.  For living beings or spirits in the astral physically touching the target if it is not oneself is an effective component.  Also using conventional camouflaging techniques in conjunction with the spell will aid in the spell’s potency.

Ghost in the Machine

This spell allows the caster to alter a mechanical device at will without leaving traces of the caster’s involvement or presence within the device.  First the caster must make an empathetic link and familiarize himself with the device, other spells exist for the accomplishment of this task.  Once intimate with the device the caster exerts his will upon the various mechanical patterns of the device to achieve the desired change.  The caster can alter the efficiency output of the device, components and their functions can be altered, or the device could be rendered unusable.
(Components) Usually other components have already been used to establish the empathetic link with the machine and therefore there is no one component that would be overly helpful enough to mention once intimate with the machine.  This is a spell of willful domination of the machine and requires no physical component for further potency.

Machine Empathy

This spell enables the caster to develop an empathetic rapport with any mechanical device, thus allowing the caster to manipulate and affect the device.  The caster uses her senses to establish an empathetic link with the device, using her will if necessary to circumvent any defensive spells or the machine’s own stubbornness.  Once the link is established the caster uses that link to gain impressions of the machine’s maker, function, components, and the mechanical relationships between those components.  In essence the caster uses the link to gain a working knowledge of the machine, what it does, how it does it, and how it can be repaired or sabotaged.
(Components) Using a physical medium to establish the connection is very effective.  This object could be a bauble, ring, or talisman that is attached to or laid upon the device.  The laying of hands upon the device, verbal incantations, and runes are also effective components. 

Mantle

This spell, upon casting, encases the caster within a defensive energy field.  The uses her will to weave a field of defensive energies about herself, solidifying them into a potent defense grid.  This field will aid the caster in the natural avoidance of physical or magical harm.  In essence this field will increase the chances of the caster avoiding harm.  The likelihood of tripping over something, the probability of a bullet striking home, or perhaps the odds of success for an offensive spell hurled at the caster of the field.  It augments the caster’s natural defenses and creates a field of probability in the caster’s favor.  The spell remains until the caster chooses to no longer expend energy to maintain the field’s integrity.
(Components) Any object that can be adjusted sympathetically would be tremendously helpful in this situation.  An example would be a ring with a compartment that will open or close.  Perhaps a watch with a dial switch or a glow stick necklace.  Some sort of object that could sympathetically represent the turning on and off of the field.

Nullify
This spell allows the caster to absorb, store, or redirect magical energy from incoming spells and magical patterns.  The caster of this spell focuses upon the incoming spell or pattern and nullifies it with his or her magical will.  Immediately after the moment of nullification there is a tremendous amount of formless magical energy which must be shaped to avoid the venting of volatile energy into the immediate area. The caster may choose to absorb the energy and hurl a spell of her own, though if this route it taken the caster must be prepared to cast the next spell reactively.  The energy of the nullified spell may very well overload her system if it remains too long.  Although a master with enough capacity may choose to store the energy from the nullified spell for later use, this should only be done if the caster is confident in her capacity to handle such an addition to her own energy stores.  The third option is to redirect the formless energy into an object or other realm.  To do this the caste must either have a physical item capable of handling the energy input without breaking or be of sufficient skill and power to safely shunt the energy into another realm without losing focus or control.
(Components) Personalized hand gestures accompanied by a verbal denial of the incoming spell or pattern.

Summons

This spell allows the caster to reach out with her power and force an entity to come into her presence.  The caster must be familiar with the intended target, the more detailed her knowledge the more powerful and difficult to resist the spell will be when cast.  The caster then uses that familiarity to distinguish that particular entity from all others and establishes a magical connection with that entity through the caster’s senses.  Then the caster uses her will to exert power over the entity and force it to come to her.  The affected entity will then do everything in its power to reach the caster.  The more powerful the caster the more powerful the summons will be and the greater the distance that one can force the affected entity to travel.  The skill of the caster is what determines how much knowledge the entity has of the reasons for its sudden need to be in whatever location the caster is waiting.
(Components) An object touched by the target entity or perhaps something once possessed by the target are both very potent augmentations or foci for the spell.  Facing a mirror with the object and using verbal components analogous to summoning is a tremendously effective manner of casting this spell.

Ruin

This spell gives the caster the ability to rapidly age any inanimate object. Depending upon the strength of the caster the amount of aging could be months, years, or even centuries.  Under the influence of the spell wood rots, metal rusts and becomes brittle, stone weathers, structures collapse, and machines fail.  This is accomplished by the magic user extending her senses into the object in question and establishes a connection to it in the flow of time. Then the caster uses her will to increase the effects of time upon the object to the desired age.  Like many spells, this spell requires subtly and patience, for even in the astral realm it is possible that it may take time for the object to begin to show the effects of the spell, given that the changes are fundamental, not superficial.
(Components) Physically touching the target object is tantamount to the success of the spell, it allows for a more intimate and swift connection to the object in the flow of time. Verbal components may also be useful at this juncture.

Silent Ambush

This spell allows the caster to setup traps within his own mind to ensnare and damage intruders.  The caster visualizes his mind as a grid, then places traps and snares at various points upon the grid.  These traps could be complex patterns that snare the intruder’s mind within the caster’s own, thus putting the invader at the caster’s mercy.  Or they could be as simple as sensitive areas within the mindscape that blast intruders with raw energy in the attempt to destroy and expel the invading mind.  The complexity, power, and sensitivity of such mental devices depend upon the skill, focus, and power of the caster and the frequency which the caster refreshes such defenses.
(Components) There are no helpful components other than the ability of the magic user to visualize the casting of such a spell.