Power

"That's not how powers work. They're not good or bad by themselves, it's how we use them"

- Piper explains how powers work

Powers are magical traits caused by the possession of a piece of The All. They are a biological part that predominately resides in the blood. A power can manifest itself in several ways: in the onset of puberty, as a reflex when a being is in direst need, or just when the being is ready to receive the power.

Powers are neither good nor evil, it's a matter of how they are used. However, over centuries, several powers have been associated with either one of the sides. For example; the ability to create fire is associated with evil and demons were known to commonly possess fire-based powers (such as Fireballs, Flaming and Incineration). Other powers, like Blinking, which is now considered to be a standard Warlock power, used to be a typical Witch power during the 17th century.

It is very dangerous for mortals to get in the possession of powers because they are not meant to have them. As described in the Book of Shadows, mortals become confused, then frightened, paranoid, violent, and demonic, and will ultimately die unless the powers are withdrawn.

Stealing Powers
The most common M.O. of demons and warlocks alike is to steal the powers from other magical beings. Killing another witch and stealing his or her powers will turn a witch into a warlock. As such, warlocks generally steal the powers of witches; however, warlocks will kill other magical beings, even other warlocks and demons, in order to build their power base and achieve their personal end goals. All warlocks possess the innate ability to kill other magical beings and absorb their magic.

Most demons, by contrast, lack the natural abiltiy to steal powers. Some upper level and fewer lower level demons do have this ability. Other demons require spells, rituals, or magical objects in order to steal powers. Demons generally steal powers to build up their own power and strength, to climb the ladder of the demonic hierarchy and eventually take over the Underworld.

Methods of Power Stealing
In order to obtain the powers from another being one must usually kill it. This is the preferred way for demons and warlocks. They generally use a lethal power or an athame, after which they absorb the powers.

Warlocks prefer to use only an athame, since athames can be used to channel magic. When warlocks and demons (with the ability to steal powers) kill their victims the powers automatically transfer from victims into the warlocks. However, when using a special type of athame, warlocks and demons can store the powers into the blade until they are ready to absorb them.

Evil witches generally use spells and potions to steal another witch's powers. This allows them to steal powers, unknown to the victim as well as steal them from a distance and without any harm. Vanquishing the evil witch usually sends back the stolen powers to their original possessors, should they still be alive.

To Call a Witch's Powers


This spell, which can be found in the Book of Shadows, is used to steal the powers from another witch. First one has to brew a potion, which has to be consumed, willingly or unwillingly, by the witch whose powers are sought. After consumption, the adjoining spell then has to be chanted to steal and absorb the powers.

This spell was supposedly added to the Book of Shadows to teach future witches a lesson about personal gain, or to reclaim stolen powers.

Binding Powers
This refers to the process of using a spell or potion to disable a witch's basic and active powers, rendering them mortal. The act of binding did not remove the powers but simply made them dormant in the witch until the binding was undone. This could be achieved by reversing the unbinding, becoming unbound under stressful situations or even due the death of the person who performed the binding. Binding was usually performed on young witches as they were considered incapable of properly using their powers until old enough, and that having powers was potentially dangerous as it made them targets to evil beings or simply because their active power was too destructive. Examples of binding include:


 * In an alternate reality where the existence of magic was known by mortals and witches were persecuted, Piper contemplated binding her daughter Melinda's powers so that she would be safe from exposure. While initially set on having Melinda's powers bound using a spell, Piper decided at the last minute not to.
 * When the Charmed Ones encountered the Evil Enchantress, who was bent on becoming the Queen of 12th century kingdom by magically manipulating The Prince and conceiving his heir, they resolved to stop her plot permanently by binding her powers, as she was a powerful evil witch that could conjure the elements. They bound her powers using a Binding Potion by throwing it near her.


 * Tyler Michaels voluntarily had his powers bound, being a young Firestarter who couldn't control his pyrokinetic abilities and was almost made a student in the training academy of a demon named Ludlow. His power eventually became unbound five years later when he was attacked by demons. Piper made the potion used to bind his powers, while also considering whether to she should bind her own child's powers (but decided against it after her son was born).


 * The Stillman Sisters was a trio of low-level evil witches who gained notoriety for their small-time cons and hustles. This granted them an entry in the Book of Shadows; though it was only a small paragraph that claimed they weren't worth vanquishing and instructed the reader to only bind their magic if they proved to be a nuisance. The Charmed Ones eventually did so after the Stillman sisters took their identities.

Tuatha Disempowers the Charmed Ones
In 1999, an two hundred year old evil witch called Tuatha was accidentally freed from her prison. In order to prevent the Charmed Ones from killing her, she disempowered them. The spell required a fresh human heart for each witch who had to be disempowered. However, her spell did not bind the potion making ability of the Charmed Ones, but their potions had no effect on her.

A few years later in late 2002, a warlock by the name of Bacarra, used the same method as Tuatha.

Counteracting Powers
When vanquishing an evil being, it may happen that powers have to be counteracted.

The Charmed Ones Vanquish Eames


In 2001 the Charmed Ones faced a foul warlock by the name of Eames. He had been planning to kill all Elders and Whitelighters since the late 1980s. In order to vanquish him, the Charmed Ones had to counteract three powers he had stolen; cloning, transmogrification, and deflection. They did so using the following spell:


 * Time for amends, and a victim's revenge.
 * Cloning power turn sour.
 * Power to change turn to strange,
 * I'm rejectin' your deflection.

The last three lines where individually written by one of the sisters and counteracted a specific power. Phoebe noted that her line (the last one) sounded a little western.

Relinquishing Powers
Only to be done in direst emergency, powers can be relinquished. Simply put, powers can be given up. This can be accomplished by a simple spell.

Rex Buckland Blackmails Prue Halliwell
In early 1999, a warlock only known by his alias as Rex Buckland, was able to blackmail Prue Halliwell. With the use of trickery and magic, Rex made Prue steal a valuable tiara at the auction house she worked at, thus framing a robery.

When Prue was put in jail, her sisters helped her to escape but while they ran away, they were caught by Rex, who had taken a photograph of their escape. He proposed that the sisters used the relinquishing spell in their Book of Shadows, and give him their charmed powers.

After a long discussion and with no other choice, the sisters agreed and did as he said. They cast the relinquishment spell and stored their powers in a magical container that Rex had given them. As the sisters handed over their powers to Rex, he ordered his partner and lover, Hannah to kill them.

However on that moment, Leo Wyatt, the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter, used his powers to reverse the magic and undo the relinquishment spell. This caused for the sisters' powers to return, making them able to rescue themselves from Hannah, who had transformed herself into a dangerous, black panther.

Back at the Manor, the sisters decided to burn the entry from their Book of Shadows, making it unable for future generations to relinquish their powers.

The Spell Kept Safe in Piper's Mind
In late 2001, Piper got kidnapped by the Source of All Evil. He had learned that Piper had memorized the relinquishment spell before she and her sisters burned the page from the Book of Shadows a few years back.

By entering her mind, he tried to manipulate her, making her belief that she was mentally ill, that her being a witch was part of an imagination, he tried to make her say the spell to cure her of her illness. The Source almost succeeded, had it not been for the intervention of her sisters and Leo.

Powers in Mortals
Mortals are humans who possess no magical powers and whose biological functions doesn't allow them to. It's been established that if mortals are granted too much power, they will fall into a state of paranoia and insanity as their body and mentality is not prepared for dealing with them.

However, recently, magic switched and supernatural beings were stripped of their powers, while mortals have been granted powers. However, in this case, mortals don't suffer any kind of paranoia or insanity.

Notes and Trivia

 * The Charmed Ones are the only beings to have a "power-connection" where they can tap into each one another's powers. For example, when Paige was unable to speak and had to orb Wyatt to her, away from the Crone, Piper and Phoebe touched her arms and called out for Wyatt; activating Paige's power to telekinetically orb Wyatt to her.
 * In some episodes, there are deviations in a power's natural color (for example: red Energy Balls and purple orbs).
 * According to Grams, during pregnancy, a witch has to train her powers daily. If not, the witch's powers can go awry. This was proven in the next episode by Piper when she was pregnant with Wyatt. When she tried to blow up demons, he would instead create fireworks or flowers.
 * Artifacts, like the Book of Shadows, can possess powers as well. However, these powers were given to them by charms and spells that were cast upon them. Their strength usually depends on the being whose using that artifact. For example, as the bond between the Charmed Ones grows, so does the strength of their Book of Shadows.
 * Some artifacts are specifically created to contain powers. These so-called "Power Containers" are used to store powers. Even mortals can be used to store powers, a method generally used by Demonic Power Brokers. However, since mortals were not born to receive any kind of magical power, this will ultimately result in their self-destruction.
 * The Charmed Ones vanquished a large number of evil beings by redirection their own or their allies' powers against them.
 * Astral Projection is the only known power that can be obtained by learning how to do it rather than naturally possessing it or taking it from another being. Powers like Super Strength can be accessed through the use of other powers.
 * Certain beings are named specifically for the power they naturally possess, even if that power isn't necessarily exclusive to them:
 * Shapeshifters have Shapeshifting
 * Empaths have Empathy
 * Firestarters have Pyrokinesis
 * The Water Demon has Hydrokinesis
 * The Shocker Demon has Electrokinesis

Behind the Scenes - Sound Effects

 * Each power on the show has its particular sound effect when a power is activated. If a power has a prolonged effect, like Molecular Immobilization, a corresponding sound effect may be heard when the power deactivates.
 * It's proven in "All Hell Breaks Loose" that the sound effect for Prue's Telekinesis is indeed real in-universe rather than an aesthetic feature for the audience because it can be heard on camera. The same cannot be said of powers like Empathy, which features a series of wind chimes each time Phoebe used it in order cue the audience of it happening, but this is not heard nor acknowledged by any of the characters.
 * Throughout the course of the first few seasons, both the visual effects as the sound effects changed.
 * Telekinesis was the only power in the Unaired Pilot that was not accompanied with a sound effect.

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