CHARMS | LESSON 02
MAGIC LESSON: LAWS
There are many, many laws in the magic world. In the ancient times, they were written in very large and old books, but recently they were put online at websites called Westlaw or Lexis. The picture below shows you all the law books that an Attorney of Magic references in her or his work. Because you are a new student in the world of magic, there are four basic laws you must learn so that you do not break them accidentally.
(1) INTERNATIONAL STATUE OF SECRECY
The first law is called the International Statute of Secrecy*. This is the law from over a thousand years ago that separated the magic world from the muggle world. Starting at that time, all magic and magical things were kept secret from muggles. This law also established the Magic Reversal Squad who are called when muggles witness magic. The Squad casts spells to erase the muggles’ memories of the magical event.
As you know, with the publication of the Harry Potter books and release of the Harry Potter movies, there has been a great interest in magic. Most humans think it is pretend - and they might be right. There is really no proof that magic is real. Many experts believe magic is just tricks. In any case, there is no longer a clear separation of the magic and muggle worlds so this law is currently being rewritten. Ratification is expected in 2022 when we will no longer need to keep magic so secret. You will be contacted when that happens.
(2) DECREE FOR THE REASONABLE RESTRICTION OF UNDERAGE SORCERY
The second law is the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery*. This law says no student is allowed to practice magic outside of school. The only exception is when your life, or the life of someone else is in danger.
(3) PROCLAMATION FOR THE USE OF WANDS WITHOUT INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION
With the coming of the Covid-19 plague, legislation was also passed recently regarding magic related to online schooling. The third law states that no student may be issued a loaded magic wand unless its use is supervised in person by an instructor. Students taking online classes are required to use Practice Wands to learn incantations, wand movements, and spell casting. There is currently a revision that will be voted upon in the fall to allow students who have shown outstanding trustworthiness and maturity to be allowed some magical powers. We will keep you updated.
(4) EDICT REGARDING THE USE OF MAGIC FOR EVIL PURPOSES
The fourth and final law forbids the use of magic for evil purposes. Magic may only be used from a heart filled with love. Magic from anger, jealousy, greed, showing off, sadness, or other negative emotions will not create goodness in the world. To create goodness, your heart must be filled with kindness, honesty, sharing, appreciation, happiness, love, or other positive emotions. Therefore, do not practice any magic unless your emotions are positive and good. Just wait to do your magic until they are. Failure to obey this law has very serious consequences.
THE LAW LIBRARY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
2. SPELL: Alohomora & INCENDIO
In Lesson Two, you first will learn the Unlocking Charm which has the power to open regular human locks and most magical locks. The spell was accidentally discovered by a wizardess named Zelda Zipperman when she was trying to steal back her stolen jewels from a huge giant named Berford.
She followed him secretly as he walked through the forest smashing trees and scaring animal. He got far ahead of her because his strides were so big, but she could see in the distance, Berford was entering a gigantic house hidden inside a mountain.
When Zelda arrived at the mountain, she slid on her belly under the super-sized door. She waited until the Berford fell asleep, then crawled quietly into the room where his snoring was making a wind like a hurricane. She looked all around until she spied a treasure chest hidden under a pile of bear furs.
Her heart sank when she saw there was a large lock on the chest. Since the hole in the lock was so big, she decided to try to pick the lock using her wand. She worked and worked, but the lock didn’t open. She was so frustrated to have come all that way for nothing, she said a bad word. “Alohomora".” That means “Crap” in Vestuvian, which was her language. Zelda was stunned when the lock popped right open. And a new spell was born.
Incantation: Alohomora (‘al-LOH-ha-MOR-ah’)
Wand Movement: Backward S curving up at the end
Willpower: None for human locks; low for magic locks
Concentration: Imagine the lock opening
(If the lock has an Anti-Alohomora spell on it, this charm will not work. You will need to consult your teacher for help).
The second charm you will learn in this lesson is Incendio (this means “fire” in Latin). It is the fire-making spell.
The Incantation: Incendio (‘in-SEN-dee-oh’)
Wand Movement: Curved flick up and down like a flame of fire
Willpower: Depends on how far away the target is. The farther away, the more willpower you need.
Concentration: Depends on how big the fire needs to be. More concentration for larger fires.
CAUTION: Many students have learned the hard way never to practice this charm indoors. Hundreds of students have lit their bedrooms on fire, and even burned down their houses and schools. Fire is extremely dangerous and deadly. Some students have also had a backfire which shoots fire out the back of the wand and lights their clothes on fire. Never practice this with a loaded wand unless a teacher is near and can keep you and your surroundings from harm. Otherwise, only use a practice wand.
3. LAB WORK
It is critical for every beginning magician to understand fire before they can be effective spellcasters.
IMAGE FROM THE ADIMU SHOW VIDEO: “HOW TO DRAW AND LABEL A CANDLE FLAME”
Watch this video (5 min). Then draw and label your own candle and flame parts.
2. When completed, take a photo of your drawing and send to your Muggle Helper.
3. Finally, practice both the movements and incantations for Alohomora & Incendio
(Use only a practice wand and practice every day until you know the charms by heart).
4. Leadership development
As you will hear your teachers say often, “Good magic comes from good people.” As you learned in your last lesson, there are four cardinal virtues every good witch or wizard practices. In this lesson, your leadership development focuses on the second one: TEMPERANCE.
Temperance is the Goldilocks virtue. Not too hot. Not too cold. But just right. That is temperance. It’s in the middle.
If you are to become a noble practitioner of magic, you need to develop the virtue of temperance. You need to be aware that wanting too much of something is not good. If you eat one ice cream cone, it’s delicious, but if you eat two cones, you might feel sick in your tummy or wild and too sugared-up. If you eat two ice cream cones veryday you will get fat and could get diseases. Too much of anything is usually a bad thing.
Temperance also means not too little. If you never had ice cream, that’s not good either. So you have to find the middle place for ice cream cones that is not too much and not too little.
Temperance means finding the middle place for toys. Not too many. Not too few.
Temperance means finding the middle place for learning how to play piano. Not too fast. Not too slow.
Temperance means finding the middle time to sleep. Not too long. Not too short.
I think you get the idea. Right?
Well, wizards believe the most important area of temperance is how much you try to do. If you try to do too much, your work gets sloppy and rushed. You can’t do a good job. Have you ever hurried to make a drawing? Not too good, I bet. But if you take forever and ever on the drawing, you have to ask yourself, does this drawing really need more time, or am I just doing too much? There is a middle for your best work, your best creation, and the best use of your time.
Look for the balance point. Balance like on a teeter totter. In the middle of too much and too little or one side crashes down and the other flies high and falls off.
“IT’S NOT TOO HOT, AND NOT TOO COLD. IT’S JUST RIGHT.”
KNOCK KNOCK. IS ANYBODY HOME?
Your leadership development assignment is to assess these ten things. Are they too much? Too Little? Or Just Right - in the middle? Take a sheet of paper and write the numbers 1 through 10. Next to each number, write <, >, or =. These are the magic symbols for < less - > more - = and just right. If you have any that are not = in the middle, then make a plan to move things in the right direction.
TOYS
TREATS
HAPPINESS
TELEVISION
HEALTH
SLEEP
EXERCISE
PLAYING
READING
TRYING MY BEST
When completed, take a photo of your drawing and send to your Muggle Helper.
5. EXTRA CREDIT
There are three assignment options for which you will be rewarded Extra Credit Points. You can do one assignment, two assignments, all three assignments, or you can skip extra credit and do none. Sometimes you won’t like the assignment. Sometimes it will seem too hard or too boring. Most students find if they do them anyway, it is always a lot more interesting and fun than they thought - and they learn a lot. But extra credit is always optional and your decision. There is no penalty for skipping it. On the school’s home page, there is an Extra Credit section where you can read about the assignments.
LESSON TWO WRAP-UP
We will be giving your Muggle Helper a checklist and some questions to ask you at the end of the week to prepare the report on your progress. When the report is completed, she will send it to Professor Anne Argon and you will message her using The Virtual Owl portal. Type DONE, and tell her about how you liked the lesson.
In addition, we ask that you have someone take photos of you and your extra credit assignments, if you do some. And congratulate yourself on the great job. You are doing such great work. We hope it is fun for you too. - Anne
*Hogwarts is Here