Mysticism & the Occult

Casting requires a vessel for power drawn from the world.
A vehicle, attuned to the flux.

Oil, salt, blood, metals, and gems may all be bent to this purpose, each in their own way.
They must be coordinated exactly.
Any surface can be used, if it is flat and still.
With enough precision, they may even be laid into the fibers of a thick canvas.
It would have to be large, to be unrolled across the same area.

By ritual, the vessels are drawn into alignment.
By will of the practitioner, they are bent to a purpose.
Ink shifts, blood boils, salt chars, metal tarnishes, oil smokes, gems crack and shatter.
All become ash.
The air shimmers, hotter or colder than before.
The world changes.

For those that desire a closer connection to the source, the trades of Sorcery, Wizardry, Witchcraft, and Theurgy may teach you to become that vessel.
To drink true, raw power, sliding thick across your tongue.
To cast aside worried preparations and magics at a safe distance.

To bend all at the speed of your desire.

Protect the gem of your heart, vessel.
Careful that you, too, are not consumed.