The Work of a Wizard
In an world that has alchemists, astrologers, fortune tellers, and frauds, the young wizard/witch that wants to learn the magic which has been practiced by wizards since the beginning of wizard times needs the basic history and knowledge of the magic past.
Magic is difficult and dangerous, & meddling in it almost always leads to disaster. But modern wizards/witches do not usually heed the warnings. They have developed the habit of not listening to advice. So if you are unshakable in your desire to learn wizardology, then all I can say is pay attention and use caution. EXTREME CAUTION!
The Great Work
A Wizard or Witch holds a position of power that must only be used for good. However, we know some go bad. Wizards/Witches have a secret knowledge of fairies, elves, magical beasts, and magical herbs & potions that must be kept hidden from the non-magic world.
We have seen throughout literature the greatness of wizards, from Merlin to Prospero, to the Weird Sisters to Lord Voldemort. Even in modern Pop Culture, wizardry has been shown in television and movies like Charmed and The Craft.
All of these follow a sort of a template on how one uses magic and how magic is performed. Through these lessons, hopefully you can see a common thread that interweaves past literature and modern day stories of magic together. They may not all be the same but they share the basic way we see magic used.
Who can be a Wizard? Some Basic Rules...
According to Merlin Wizardology, anyone can become a wizard. You don’t need to be born of magic blood. All that is required is a commitment to follow some simple rules: practice, work like a plough horse, practice, to give up all worldly pleasures in order to further the good of nature and humankind, practice, dedication to learning all there is in the magic world by studying past magical history, practice, a strong will to keep going when things don’t go right, and PRACTICE. If you noticed in these basic rules, One of the major things we do not see is keeping magic away from non-magic folk. In the old times, magic seemed to be an everyday occurrence. Some people were able to perform magic and create potions, other were not. So the non-magic folk when to those that could in hopes of getting a true love, becoming richer..etc. However, today, there is a fear of persecution. Not that the magic folk couldn't take care of themselves, but to save the non-magic folks from themselves. Some are so afraid that there is no telling what would happen if people today knew of the magic that was out there. That's why we see alot of modern day wizards and witches keep magic out of the public eye of everyday people.
However in modern times we have seen in shows like Charmed/Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Craft and in books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings not everyone does magic for the good of human kind.
InCharmed the sisters fought not only with demons and dark lighters, and warlocks but with in an inner battle within themselves to stay good by not using power for personal gain. Although if one has seen the show we do see a constant battle that they sometimes lose but ultimately win and do whats good. To me this show follows the rules the closest because you see the beginnings from when they discovered their powers and try to keep it hidden from people outside their circle to the end when they finally accepted who they were and what they are meant to do. (Following is from Wikipedia) Charmed is the story of the three Halliwell sisters, Prudence, Piper, and Pheobe, discovering that they are the world's most powerful good witches, The Charmed Ones; each gifted with innate magical powers they must collectively use to defend the "innocents" of San Francisco from demons, warlocks, and other evil beings. During their fight against the forces of evil, eldest sister Prue is killed, breaking the united Power of Three. However, the Charmed triple-destiny is restored with the introduction of a long-lost fourth half-sister, Paige Matthews, who is half-witch and half-whitelighter.
In Buffy we see Willow, a practicing with, that later became a truly powerful witch and a key ally in Buffy's ultimate victory over the first evil. Willow started out as a novice witch, but grew stronger and stronger until she crossed over onto the darkside not once but twice. The first time was when Willow met a fellow witch that told her it was OK to use magic for her own personal happiness or entertainment . When willow started to do this is put a strain on her relationship with Tara and lead her to go to this back alley type power enhancer wizard which caused Willow to becaome addicted to having more power than anyone she knew. The second time was death of her girlfriend, Tara. Willow and Tar just got back together when a stray bullet went through a window and took Tara's life. Willow instantly took revenge on all those responsible or stood in her way to satisfy her revenge. However with the help of her friends she was able to come back to the good side and learn to harness her power once again for the greater good. The only people that really knew of Willow's powers were her friends and those other supernaturals that buffy had to fight or whom Willow came across.
In the movie, The Craft, we have Sarah Bailey, a sixteen year old troubled teenager with a painful past and a history of hallucinations, moves to L.A. with her father and stepmother to start a new life - and is enrolled into a Catholic school. It is at school that she comes into contact with three unlikely friends, Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle, all who are socially outcast with various problems in their lives that they wish they could fix. Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle dabble in witchcraft, and when they notice Sarah has the powers of a natural witch, they talk her into joining their coven. When Sarah joins, they soon realize that with a fourth witch in the coven they can begin to cast spells they couldn't before, and begin to amend all the things wrong in their lives - but like everything else in life - things come with a price. Written by Dismal Angel on imdb (edited for HOL standards) From this synopsis we can gather that the 3 other girls turned into bad witches and Sarah was the good witch that was left to battle them. (the following is from Wikipedia) Sarah has just moved from San Francisco to L.A. with her father and step-mother. She enrolls at the local high school, but struggles to fit in as the "new kid." A group of three girls who dabble in witchcraft believe that someone will arrive to be their "fourth," as she can complete their circle and make a full coven. During a French class one of the three girls, Bonnie, witnesses Sarah balancing a pencil on its tip and causing it to rotate while standing upright. Bonnie then tells her friends that Sarah is their "fourth."
In Harry Potter, (both book and movie)we have seen as Hagrid put it "wizards go bad" and as Ollivander put it "He-who-Shall-Not-Be-Named went on to do great things, terrible, but great". So even though one of those simple rules are to do good for the future of nature and humankind, not all rules are followed exactly. Some may have a skewed view of what is good and what is bad.
In these examples we have seen how some of the basic rules are followed. Not all use these rules but a common thread is that they all in some way practice their powers to make it stronger, they all try to keep there power secret to those with out any supernatural ability, and they try to make life better not only for them but for those around them. One common trait we can see through these examples, that if one uses magic for personal gain or for a negative outcome, nothing but disaster will happen.
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
A Tragic play written by Christopher Marlowe and published in 1604, Dr. Faustus was a German scholar that was unhappy with traditional methods of trying to attain knowledge. So unhappy that he decides he want to practice magic. His two friends Valdes and Cornelius decide to help him learn the dark arts of magic. Faustus then begins his new life as a magician/wizard by asking a devil named Mephastophilis to talk to Lucifer about a deal involving his soul for power. Lucifer agrees to the deal. Before the deal is struck though Faustus starts to have second thoughts but his yearning for more power, fame, knowledge is greater than his fear of losing his soul, so he agrees to the pact.
This is where I will leave you in the story. Oh don't fear! you can read more about this story if you do a little research or if you click on this little link.. CLICK ON THIS LITTLE LINK
Now this story will be important when it comes to the Homework and Extra credit...So I suggest you become very familiar with this story. Plus, this story shows the lengths some people will go to become more powerful and knowledgeable than others with little regards to how it will effect others or themselves. I will just say 2 words, personal gain.
Now what are you waiting for, read the story! Become familiar! If you like the synopsis from Wikipedia you can always read the play on Google books here...MAGIC GOOGLE BOOK LOVE!