Language has power in our world, spelling is casting spells with our words. People use words to hurt, conceal, soothe, and dominate, to evoke emotions in others. More than that, in certain contexts and conditions, the right words effect real change. Words can alter the legal standings of individuals or establish a legal context. In linguistic terms, this kind of language is called performative, language that is, in itself, action. This specialized linguistic form is one common ingredient of magic, where the power is in the words themselves.. Or more so, we give power to those words. As they say, becareful for what you wish for and it might come true.

Common to all kinds of magic are ~

~Actors—a practitioner, a subject, and an agent (a spirit or energy source)
~A decontextualizing of the language and actions from everyday life and resituating them within a special and powerful—and abstracted (often mythic)—context
~A special-purpose language or speech register
~Rituals and taboos
~Use of herbs and talismans
~Altered states of consciousness induced by chanting, fasting, or herbal draught