Elemental Magic in Witchland.
Rosemary in my garden, photo by me. The scent of Eliza’s red flame magic is rosemary and woodsmoke.
There it was, the core of magic that lived in her heart, the twisting, dancing red fire and the hissing blue flame that burned like frostbite.
Eliza focused on the orange-gold fire and its icy twin dipped low. Amber warmth spread through her chest, humming under her skin, and Eliza silently sent out a wisp of power. The red carnelian crystals glowed in the hearth, the spells stored inside them unfurling, until heat and light crackled and roared. The scent of her power filled the air: woodsmoke and rosemary.
Extract from WITCHLAND by Juno Goldstone.
My previous blog post talked about the different types of witches, Bloodline (aristocratic) and Lesser (ordinary witches). Lesser Witches can still be very powerful, they just can’t access the huge reservoir of magic that runs deep in the Land; they can only draw on its surface energies. Most Lessers choose to live under the protection of the Bloodline Matriarch who rules the territory they live in. But some witches like Eliza’s cousin Veronia choose to be Landless, moving from territory to territory, staying with friends perhaps, or gathering influential supporters but choosing not to give their allegiance to any Matriarch. Landless Witches are generally ambitious, always looking for opportunities to issue Territory Challenges to Matriarchs in the hope of winning the magical duel to become the new Matriarch.
The Strongest Rule is Witchland’s most sacred law. Magical duels are to the death.
Every witch is born with her own innate talent, aligned to one of the Elements (Earth, Air, Water or Fire) and sometimes to an Element in a particular form (e.g. Ice instead of Water). So, whilst witches can all do spells involving a different Element, their power is strongest when using their bonded Element. Often, during childhood, a witch daughter feels particularly drawn to the one she will later manifest. In WITCHLAND, Eliza has memories of hours spent staring at the Fire mural in her family’s ballroom.
Very powerful witches – usually the aristocratic Bloodline Witches – sometimes have twin powers, as Eliza (Fire and Ice) and her cousin Veronia (Air and Water) do. The Boleyn, as queen, wields all four Elements.
When a witch uses her magic, it has a scent that evokes her Element. Eliza, as a Fire Witch, has woodsmoke and rosemary* (though her magic’s scent changes according to whether she’s using her red flame or her icy blue fire). Her best friend Anne is an Earth Witch, whose magic is associated with the clean smell of sage and occasionally the sweetness of apples.
* The herb rosemary is traditionally associated with the Fire element.
But in WITCHLAND, it isn’t just witches who have an affinity for a particular Element. The Fae live in a parallel realm where the elemental powers run even stronger. They are very attuned to these. Lord Morgan Le Fae, Witchland’s most important ally, can draw magic from any Element, though his dominant affinity is with Earth. In TIDES OF THE HEART, the second book of the WITCHLAND series, more will be revealed about the Fae and their magic.
The Druids – enemies to witches ever since the Witch Rising deposed and executed the king they served – are aligned to Fire. These are men who can call flame to the palm of their hand, and the most powerful druids command fire as fierce as a dragon’s. A druid’s magic has no scent, which gives them an advantage over other magic users because a spell can’t be traced back to them. Many of their talents are a direct threat to Witch magic; a druid can speak to fabulous beasts and temporarily lure a Matriarch’s familiar away from her. And it’s an ancient druid curse that blights every Witch marriage, killing husbands and robbing daughters of their fathers. Druids, and the cruelty of the marriage curse, are never far from the witches’ minds. And far across the sea, to the south, the druid-ruled Flamelands waits for a chance to invade Witchland…
I’ll be writing more about druid magic, and of WITCHLAND’s bitter history between druids and witches in a future blog post.