Magic

"Do you believe in magic?"

- Paige as she's about to tell her boyfriend Henry that she's a witch.

Magic is the influencing of events by supernatural means. Magic can often be split into good and evil, though depending on the situation it can also be neutral. There are numerous magical beings which exist beyond the knowledge of most humans--such as witches, demons, and whitelighters.The three basic powers are to cast spells, create potions, and in the case of witches, to scry. Mortals, who have no magic at all cannot use it; they may brew a potion correctly but magic is need to empower the ingredients, and although one may cast a spell, it will not work.

Magic is passed by genes and may prove to skip one generation as in the case of Billie's parents who didn't posses any powers although her grandmother was a witch. Powers are present in their blood, and if a mortal comes into contact with it, s/he can gain magical powers, although this will drive them insane as their body is not equipped to deal with them.

Whilst the ability to perform magic almost always reveals itself by age early childhood, and in some special cases even from the womb, there are some individuals who remain mundane until quite late in life, usually late teen early twenties.

Usage
A good deal of studying and training is required to be able to preform magic usefully. While an active powers is very desirable, talented witches with an affinity for creating unique and powerful spells and potions are often greatly feared and respected. Has these traits will almost always guarantee victory in battle over someone who relies only on their active powers. The ability to master all aspects of magic is very rare, only extremely powerful or intelligent witches or able to do this. Notable examples are Penny, Phoebe and Piper Halliwell, the latter two are said to be natural gifted.

Spellcasting


Witches can cast spells, that does what the user wishes it to do and other than an active power, spellcasting is the quickest way to utilize magic. However, the more powerful and creative the witch, the quicker they'll be able to conjure up a spell in combat to destroy their opponents or to change or create whatever they wish. They also tend to be the only one's that can cast non-verbal spells.

Magic often breaks the laws of science in the process.
 * For example, Piper's secondary power is to to slow down molecules until completely stopped, but doing so would cause the molecules to loose heat until reaching absolute zero, however this is not clearly the case here. Also, time travel into the past is deemed to be impossible by current physics, however, time travel forwards and backwards can be utilized although this only can be done by powerful beings.

Limits
Regardless of how powerful a witch is, they are by no means without limits. For example, protection spells are impossible to create. Magic also can not be used to bring someone back to life. Another limitation is the witch themselves, some witches can not cast powerful spells or make powerful potions as they lack the vast amount of magic required for the spell or potion to take effect.

Active Power


Magic can also manifest it's the the form of an active power. 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. Some active powers are extremely deadly.

Mortals can gain power and thus magic, through obtaining blood from a magical being injected in their bodies or by a power broker storing a power into them. 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.

Magic and Ghost


Any being that is magical in nature can see the ghost of mortals or magical beings that have died and can use magic to summon them form Up There back to earth in non-corporeal form. However, they can only visit for a short-while, before their spirit return to the afterlife.

Whilst some spirit may gain a corporeal body when they are summoned to earth, it doesn't mean they are alive again.

If the ghost is a witch or another magical being, he/she will retain his/her original active powers. Also, they usually develop other powers after their deaths.

Existence of Magic
To prevent the outside world from learning about the existence of magic, beings called The Cleaners are there as safeguards, rewriting history, erasing minds and the like to prevent exposure. This is such a high importance issue that both Good and Evil has agreed on, to prevent magic from being exposed at any cost.

However, throughout the series, there have been many mortals who knew about the existence of magic, and who agreed to keep it a secret from the rest of the world. These secret keepers include The Morrises, Andy Trudeau, Victor Bennett, Glen Belland, Henry Mitchell, Jason Dean, Maya Holmes, etc.

The Three Essentials of Magic
The three essentials of magic are timing, feeling, and the phases of the moon.

Natural Magic


Discovered in the episode "All Halliwell's Eve", when used in certain ways with the correct intent, certain herbs and objects can be used to harness and direct energy and hence use magic, even without magical powers. This type of magic was used more prominently during the 1600's and fell into decline since modern day. After Charlotte died, her coven raised Melinda in the art of magic so it's presumed she has this ability.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe took this knowledge with them to the present after saving Charlotte and their family line and it's believed passed this knowledge down to the next generations. It's believed that Piper and Phoebe taught this knowledge to Paige as well since in the episode "Baby's First Demon" when demons attempted to abduct Wyatt, Piper told Paige to align the manor with apples and sage for protection.

The Besom
Also known as a common sweeping broom. When one sweeps from east to west (the path the sun travels) one can "charge" the besom. If sweeping is continued the evil and anything associated with it will be swept from one's path, as if by a gust if wind. A charged besom can even be used to fly with, hence the modern day stereotype of witches riding on broomsticks.

The Poppet
A poppet doll is one of the few natural magical objects that has survived into the modern era. If made from leaves it can represent the power of women, helping to focus the female witches magic. If made of Wax it can be a useful assistance in various spells such as the "Awakening" spell and the "To Lose A Love Forever" spell, again, focusing magic.

The Conical Hat
This simply serves to keep the witch focused and centred. Nevertheless, it is a powerful focusing tool.

Days of Power
Some days, such as Halloween, increase magical potency like a witch's powers and natural magic.

The Protective Circle


The Protective Circle is the olden day equivalent of the crystal cage, however this seems to be weaker. . Instead of being composed of only pyrite Crystals, the circle has many, natural requisites, these are:


 * Apples and Laurel Leaves
 * Cut an apple in half and you reveal the pentagram that they hold at their core made of their pips, this can be a symbol for good or evil and magic in general. If you presses a laurel leaf into its centre, you block the path of evil. Minimun amount is four to complete the circle, placed at four roughly equidistant corners.


 * Lavendar & Rosemary
 * Both are good protection herbs, scatter these around the space in a ring to strengten the force field.


 * Carved Pumpkins
 * Although it is unknown whether or not these were used in the circle in "All Halliwell's Eve", it is known that Pumpkins with the shape of a five pointed star cut out will turn away evil spirits and sometimes even demons. Hence it would be a good idea to include them in one.

All together these ingredients would create a powerful circular force field of blue energy around the creators. The field repelled the riders and the horses but was powerless against bullets.

Enchanted Doorway
When Eva brought the Charmed One's to her coven she told them that the doorway they had within the room would have told her if they were evil or not. The doorway was aligned with several unknown flowers and possibly magical herbs